American Honeymoon
by Janie-ohio
Summary: The wedding is done, and now it's time for Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy to embark on their American honeymoon in the mountains of New York. Two weeks of relaxing in solitude sounds perfect to Harry, but Draco finds he needs additional stimulation. It's just his luck a dead body is found nearby, and it looks like they've got a mystery on their hands to keep them busy. EWE Sept 2009
1. The Body

**A/N:** This story is part of the "That's Life Together" Series listed in my user profile. It does not require prior knowledge of the series, but there are a few references that will make more sense if the other stories have been read first. This story takes place in September 2009.

This is meant to be fun and playful and just a little bit sexy and isn't trying to take itself too seriously. The story is complete and will be uploaded over the next week as I complete edits.

**Other Warnings/Tags:** Smut, Autistic Child, Reference to Past Rape (non-graphic), Gay Marriage (duh), Gratuitous use of Scooby Doo references

**A/N2:** I began posting this story under the name "American Holiday" a week or so ago, but a read-through by a beta reader (my husband) suggested quite a large number of changes. Since they would be some of them be quite drastic, I'm removing the previous chapters and updating the name.

If you read it the first time, you'll want to restart at the beginning, as there's an entirely new Chapter One. Chapters will be posted relatively quickly over the next day or two, as the story is complete. Imagine the first chapter like the opening scenes of _Law and Order_. You'll get to the Harry and Draco POV next chapter, I promise.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Body**

**_Thursday, 3 September, 9:15pm _**

Ashley could not believe that she was actually making out in the back of Brandon Wesley's Ford Explorer. Like, she could _ not _believe it. He was one of the hottest and sweetest boys in school, and he actually thought she was cute? She knew she'd grown in some interesting places over the last year, but she was just a band kid, and he was on the football team and everything.

Brandon moved his hand to her boob, and that was surprisingly nice. It didn't feel like that when she touched it, but wow. Hmmm… Maybe she should slow down a little, because that felt a little too good.

"Brandon, maybe we should take a break. I'm out of breath."

"Ashley, it's just so beautiful out here with you."

Awww. He was just so cute! "Mmm, let's walk a little maybe. I'm really hot." He was latched onto her neck now. Maybe she'd get a hickey! That'd be so cool.

Brandon pulled back and adjusted himself. Oh my God! She made him hard. Holy shit! She stifled a hysterical giggle and jumped out of the back of the opened hatch, pulling him with her. "Come on, let's sit out here for a bit. Do you have a blanket?"

Brandon grinned and nodded, then reached into the backseat and jumped out after her. "Where do you think?"

"Let's sit over there, away from the tree. I want to see the stars."

"Sure, no problem. That sounds perfect."

He held her hand (eeek!) as they walked into the field a little, then spread out the blanket. She fixed the edges, then kicked off her shoes and settled in.

"See, isn't this nice? Come on."

Brandon settled in behind her and stretched his legs out around hers. She leaned back and tried not to squeal. He was still hard! Oh God. What should she do? She leaned back just a bit and he groaned. "Oh, I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?"

"No, no, not at all. It was good. Promise."

She smiled to herself and wondered if he realized she knew what she knew. She adjusted herself a bit more, reveling in the noises he made. Maybe if she just-

_ *Pop* _

Brandon jumped. "What the hell was that? Did you see that?"

"What?" She'd heard it but hadn't seen anything. She had been too busy thinking about how to touch… well, touch.

"Something big and white just appeared out of nowhere. Over there, by that big rock."

She giggled. "Brandon, things don't just appear out of nowhere."

"It did. I swear it. Come on, let's go look." He took her hand and dragged her with him. As they got closer, she realized there was something there and they had walked past that rock on the way over. It certainly hadn't been there then.

"Brandon, I'm scared." He put his arm around her as they walked the last few feet to the rock.

"Oh my God. Run back to the car and get your phone, Ashley. I don't think he's alive."

Ashley looked closely at the face and saw the gray pallor and open stare that reminded her of every dead body she'd ever seen in a movie. Then she did what anyone would do. She screamed.

* * *

**_ Thursday, 3 September, 10:45pm_**

New York state based Auror David Jackson looked at the two kids, the girl with red-rimmed eyes and the boy with his arm around her, trying to look strong but clearly upset. They seemed like sweet kids who had had their night of romantic exploration cruelly interrupted. He felt for them. What was adolescence but a time to explore and figure things out?

The local sheriff had finished interviewing them, and now it was David's turn. He hated this part. He glanced to his partner, Heather Senko, and she nodded. She was several years his junior, but he respected her completely. She was a great partner, and he'd miss her when she got promoted up the ranks. He had no doubt she would, and probably soon.

He stepped into the room and nodded to the Sheriff, who only knew him as part of the FBI. Not entirely wrong, but of course, not entirely true, either. He _ was _ here to take over the investigation, but as the dead guy was identified as a magical and likely killed by magical means, he also had to wipe some memories.

Well, at least the kids wouldn't remember tonight's unfortunate ending. He sat down with them as the sheriff left, counting on Senko to take care of the Sheriff and make sure he didn't question the sudden Apparition too closely. He looked at the kids, young adults, really, and smiled. They seemed to relax a little. That was good.

"Hi guys. I'm with the FBI. I just need to want to go through it all one more time and then this will all be over, and you can go home."

* * *

**_ Friday, 4 September, 2:30am_**

David Jackson followed Senko out of the station and around the corner, where they Apparated back to their office in Lake Placid.

Senko gave him a look as she settled into their office. "What's wrong?"

"Other than the fact that I hate Obliviating?"

"Look, you left the kids with a happy memory of necking and then returning home. You only wiped a few minutes out on the blanket. It could have been much worse."

"I know." He sat back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. "So, the body."

"Yeah, the body. Are we making the notifications?"

"Hell, no." He looked at Senko. "That's way above our pay grades. I notified Butch as soon as we had an ID. Family has probably already been told."

"How badly is this going to complicate things?"

"No idea. I mean, one of the most prominent magical families in the country? The amount of money and influence they have? It's definitely going to make it interesting."

"Yes, I suppose it might be interesting," came a voice from the doorway.

A tall, well-dressed man with graying hair and piercing blue eyes entered the room. "Stephen Whitestone, at your service, Auror Jackson, Auror Senko." He nodded to the Aurors and held out his hand.

David flashed his partner a look of surprise, then reached out and took the offered greeting. "It's an honor to meet you sir. We are very sorry for your loss."

"Yes, thank you. I'm here to collect my son's body and find out what's being done to find his killer. I'm told he was tortured and possibly hit with an Avada Kedavra. Do we not have means to track such spells in this day in age?"

"Sir, I apologize, but that's not how this works. We are able to track items that have traces, such as wands of children or magicals on probation, but we can't track specific spells. Once we complete the autopsy, however, we may be able to get a magical signature and a full read of the exact spells used. That will probably give us the most information."

"Absolutely not. There will be no autopsy in this case. My son will maintain his privacy and I will be taking his body home to be interred tomorrow. You will have to find his killer in some other way."

"But sir-"

"This is not up for debate, Auror. My family's concerns will not be exposed for all and sundry to discuss. As you know, my father-in-law is likely to win the election next year and will be our new President. I will not allow issues around my son's _ untimely death _to distract people from the important issues of our day."

"Mr. Whitestone, I appreciate all your family does for our society, but we are tasked with finding a murderer. We cannot do so without all the information."

Whitestone glared at the Aurors, then perched on the side of Jackson's desk. "Auror, my son was involved in some very unsavory elements. An autopsy of his body would likely expose much of the abuse he put it under. Under other circumstances, I'd suggest you look for illegal potions dealers or other such riff-raff." He paused. "However, my wife recently obtained some information that may be relevant, and I feel I should pass it on. I expect you to be circumspect in your investigations on this, as the situation is delicate.

Senko spoke up. "Any information you can give us sir would be most appreciated. We will swear to keep any sensitive information silent and only use it as necessary."

He nodded. "A week ago, my wife received a visit from my son. My son is not an easy man to be around, but he's family, which means he's ours to deal with. He told her that he'd just learned that he left something important in New York, and he was going to retrieve it. He wouldn't give her any further details, but told her that when he found it, he was going to leave it with her, and she'd need to deal with it."

He looked thunderous. "He frightened my wife, his own mother. I'm sure it was something illegal or stolen that he was planning on hiding with us." He stared David in the eye, and David nearly bristled at the power within the look. "Willard was a very unpleasant man. I am not sorry that he's no longer going to be able to cause further trouble. I will mourn the boy I loved and will grieve with my wife for our lost son, but I will _ not _ miss this man."

He stood and walked to the door. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must go and make arrangements. Please find who did this so that I can put the story to bed before it causes problems for our family or for my father-in-law's campaign. Thank you, Aurors, for your service."

And then he left, and David and Senko sat in stunned silence. Finally, Senko muttered, "Well, that's not how I expected that to go. Holy shit."

"Yeah. So, dead potions-head from elite political family tries to find something illegal he left here and gets himself Crucio-ed and AK'd. And we're not allowed to do an autopsy, because people would find out he was abusing potions." He looked at this partner. "There aren't many magicals in this area, so if we can rule them out, we can start narrowing down our possibilities. There's some wizard or witch in this area that knows something. We just have to find them."

* * *

**_ Friday, 4 September, 10:35am _**

David sat at his desk with a list of names and addresses in one hand, and a breakfast sandwich in the other. Forty-five magical families in the Lake Placid and surrounding areas. The number was closer to one-hundred if he made it down as far as Lake George. Luckily there was an office there that could cover that list, if necessary. He wouldn't ask for that unless they didn't have any further leads by Monday.

Senko walked in and handed him a can of his favored Mountain Dew, then sat down at her own desk. Shuffling some papers, she asked, "Do you have the First-Gen child list, or did I lose it?"

"I put it away. The magic involved would require a trained wizard. No matter the talent of the child, they couldn't cast a Cruciatus or an Avada Kedavra until maybe fourteen or fifteen. I checked the list, and we have three in the area but the oldest is nine, so we can cross them off."

"Well, there's three less stops to make, right?" she asked, trying to sound optimistic.

"Exactly. Now, do we know if the family is in residence out at Wizened Isle?"

"Actually, they're not. There's a vacation rental at the moment. I just got off the phone with the caretaker, and you'll never believe who's there."

"Usually some rich guy. I mean, who else could afford that place?"

"How about Harry Potter?"

He looked up. "No fucking way. Didn't he just get married? It was all over the society page. Jillian couldn't stop talking about it and showing me pictures."

"Guess he's on his honeymoon."

"Well, this'll be fun. He's an Auror, isn't he?"

"Yeah, Senior Auror, I believe, and rumor has it on his way to being Head in the next couple years."

"I highly doubt he's got anything to do with this, but if we're going to question him, we'll have to play this right. I don't want to give anything away that we don't want him to know, though I wouldn't mind feeding him just a little information and seeing what he does with it."

"Wanna play fumbling cop/competent cop?"

"Oh yeah." He grinned. He loved that one. "Most definitely. All right, I have the Lake Placid and Lower Saranac Lake list for today, and we'll also want to stop in a few places and see if he was seen around at any of the businesses. We'll hit Upper and Middle Saranac tomorrow, so guess we'll see the famous Harry Potter then. Wonder what he's like?"

"Probably a pompous prick, though they say he's good at what he does. Suppose we'll find out. Come on, let's get this started."


	2. The Honeymooners

**A/N:** If you read the first version of this story, this was the original first chapter. It may sound familiar, but there are a few adjustments. Thanks for reading!

* * *

**Chapter 2 - The Honeymooners**

** _Tuesday, 1 September, 3:30pm EDT _**

Harry sat on the side of a little ferry boat and looked around. "This place really is gorgeous, Draco. Thank you."

He felt Draco stir beside him and took his hand. "Look, is that a heron?"

"Looks to be, yes. So, does this fit your vision of a mountain retreat?"

"So far, yeah. It's breathtaking." Harry looked out at the clear late summer sky surrounded by mountains and wilderness, then took in the quiet hum of cicadas and frogs and who knew what other animal noises.

"It just been such a long few days. We made it." He grinned and leaned over for a discreet kiss with his husband. _ Husband _ . He couldn't believe they had done it. They were _ married _.

Over the previous thirty-six hours, Harry had been primped and polished (by an adamant Fleur Weasley), sworn his life and love to this insane man he had come to cherish, survived a formal wedding breakfast in the late morning at Malfoy Manor with all the required politicians, dignitaries, and important people who Draco and Narcissa felt necessary to be at the wedding of the Man who Vanquished, and finally celebrated with their family and friends at an absolutely fantastic reception at the Burrow.

"I'm not sure what's more shocking to me at this point, that we're finally married, or that we put Teddy onto the Hogwarts Express this morning."

"Would you stop worrying? You gave him those communication mirrors you insisted on; he'll call you when he gets sorted and settled into his dormitory, I'm sure. He's eleven, not five."

Harry smiled, thinking of the mirrors he created to match the one Sirius had given him all those years ago. "I just wish he had taken that day-student option they started offering. He'd be able to floo back and forth each day, and I wouldn't have to go months without seeing him. I guess too many years of hearing about my school adventures convinced him he had to be there." He was going to miss him terribly, and he wouldn't have missed his send-off for anything, even the start of his honeymoon.

"Get over it, Potter. We're riding on a boat in a lake in the middle of the mountains in nearly absolute solitude, just as you asked for."

Their escort quietly steered the boat toward a dock on the mountain lake, and Harry decided he'd ask his question. Again. And maybe this time he'd get an answer.

"So, are you going to tell me now what exactly we're riding this boat toward? I'm going to find out in a few minutes anyway, so you might as well."

Draco smirked, making Harry roll his eyes.

"All right, fine. I'll solve your insatiable curiosity."

Harry bumped his shoulder and leaned into his ear. "Give me an hour and I'll show you insatiable."

"Promises, promises. So, I made some calls to some very discreet sources. I told them you wanted American mountains, and I wanted to go to New York City for a week after. It needed to be private, exclusive, luxurious, and quiet. This is what they all suggested. It's called Wizened Isle, and it's a private island lodge. They rent to Muggles as well, but the owners are magical and have extremely tight wards and security. It just seemed to be everything we wanted. There's a chef that will pop over and cook for us each evening if we like, and there's access to all the water sports you've been wanting to try. We'll have full privacy on the island, with the exception of the caretaker who seemed quite a nice chap when we spoke, though a bit more informal than I'd have expected given the price of the island."

Draco looked so proud of himself that Harry couldn't do anything but laugh. He had asked for a time in the mountains in a quiet cabin, and his husband had bought him two weeks in a luxury retreat. He wasn't sure why he thought he would have done anything less. At least he'd feel less guilty this way, since surely, they'd both be comfortable.

As they rounded the bend in the trees, the boat house came into view and Harry couldn't keep the smile from his face. It was way more than what he'd asked for, but he knew it was going to be perfect. The boat was met at the dock by a friendly looking man with hair just starting to pepper with gray. He grabbed the rope from the driver and hauled them in, then gave them each a hand out of the boat.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, I presume? Though I hear congratulations are in order. Shall I call you by anything else? Potter-Malfoy? Malfoy-Potter?" He grinned. "Malpot?"

Harry barked out a laugh at the last one. "No, please, that's hideous. How about Harry and Draco for now. We're still arguing over the rest." He reached out his hand toward the man. "Harry Potter. It's lovely to meet you."

"John Conroy. I hope you had an easy trip over? Cross-Atlantic portkeys can be terrible, I'm told." He looked around. "Any luggage?"

Draco groaned. "Yes, but I've shrunken our bags and stashed them in my satchel, so we're all set. As for the portkey, it was positively ghastly. And then Harry insisted on driving some sort of lorry through these damned mountains using something called a PGS to direct him. I never thought we'd make it."

"GPS. Global Positioning System. It uses satellites to...you know what? Never mind. It's supposed to work, but I guess the mountains got in the way."

John nodded. "They can do that. Still, it seems you've found your way, if a bit later than originally expected. Come on, let me show you around the island. I have a cart to drive us around parked up the path. You'll have access to one yourself up near the lodge, though I suggest you let Harry drive it if you've not driven much. The terrain is a bit difficult through here."

He escorted them up a dirt path with wood plank steps every few feet, and Harry felt like he was in a movie about some American wilderness camp. He was ecstatic, as that was exactly what he had described to Draco. Even as he slapped the insects from his face his thought was simply 'this is so perfect.'

Draco didn't appear to be enjoying the insects as much. Harry watched him do a quick check with John about the wisdom of casting a spell in the open, and when he received an affirmative nod, he proceeded with an insect shield charm that had Harry snickering.

"Go ahead and laugh, Potter. When you're covered in itchy splotches, we'll see who is laughing."

Harry nearly stumbled as Draco then proceeded to toss a charm on his husband as well. "A little warning next time, perhaps?"

"Hufflepuff," he retorted, but took Harry's hand and squeezed as they got into the little cart.

"Okay, then," John began. "Let's do a tour as we make our way around the lodge where you'll be staying. Obviously, you've rented the entire island, so feel free to make use of any of the buildings or amenities while you're here, with the exception of the caretaker's cabin, which I'll point out on the way.

"So, right. We're leaving the boat house now. You saw the kayaks, but there are also canoes and jet skis tucked away in there. Any of the outdoor sporting equipment is locked in a room there as well, so if you want to fish or anything like that, let me know and I'll get you set up proper. We can also rent you a larger boat for a day if you prefer."

They appeared to be driving an anti-clockwise path around the island as John continued talking. "There are paths for walking throughout the island, but that's mostly for just getting around. If you want some proper hiking, there are good spots all over the local areas, but I recommend Ampersand Mountain trailhead, about a twenty-minute drive from the island. It's a great day hike."

"Over to the left there in those trees is the caretaker's cottage. There's always someone there, so if you have an emergency, just let us know. A quick call, phone or floo, and I'll be over in a jiffy."

He quieted for a few minutes as they rode through the woods, peeks of sun flashing off the water teasing them through the trees. Finally, they pulled up to a large structure that was most definitely what Harry pictured when he heard the word lodge. From the angle they were approaching, he could see two distinct levels of balconies, which suggested there was a third level below. The top level seemed to push out the top of the tree line, while the main level's balcony appeared to stretch all the way around the lodge with odd-looking reclining chairs and hammocks sprinkled randomly.

John parked near an entrance on the main level, then gestured for Draco and Harry to follow. They entered the front door into a large great room that was done in natural wood throughout. Floors, walls, and ceiling were all beautiful knotted wood that Harry was sure Draco would be able to identify. The ceiling beams rose high around a beautiful natural stone fireplace with a low fire already burning, and comfortable but elegant furniture was positioned in conversation clusters throughout.

"And here we are. Obviously, this is the great room, and down those stairs is the rec room with game tables, a gym, and the pool. Down that hall is the main floor bedroom and a bath. Up the stairs is the master and some additional bedrooms." He walked to the right, motioning them to keep up. "Kitchen and dining are in here. The food is restocked daily, and if you want anything specific, let us know and we'll add it with the next restock. Chef will be here every day at four o'clock to start cooking for a six o'clock dinner. If you don't want him to come one day, or you want the time adjusted, again, just say the word."

John walked to a huge stainless-steel refrigerator with a whiteboard on it and used his wand for the first time that Harry had noticed, tapping it twice. "I've activated it for magical use now, so just use this marker here and it'll automatically appear on a partner board in the caretaker cottage. Any messages you want to get to me can come through here, or you can use the floo powder in the pottery bowls on each mantle. Most people prefer the board though, so you don't have to actually talk to anyone." He grinned. "People who come here really prefer the privacy and solitude, evidently."

Harry smiled. "That sounds amazing. Thank you for everything. I'm sure we'll manage just fine, but we'll let you know if we need anything." He looked at his watch, realizing it was nearly time for the chef to arrive. "Should we expect the chef soon, then?"

John looked at Draco, who cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I requested we be alone for the first night. There's a prepared meal already waiting for us, so we can eat whenever we like and have the evening alone." He smiled and raised his eyebrows. "I trust you're amenable?"

"Even better." He leaned in for a quick peck on Draco's jaw. "Last question for now? If we want to head back to the mainland for the day?"

"Just head down to the Apparition point by the dock, or-"

"-let you know. Right. Perfect. Thank you, John. I'm sure we'll really enjoy our time here."

"And there's my cue to get the heck out of here and leave you two lovebirds alone. I'm out!"

John headed back out the front and Harry heard the cart driving down the lane, then he turned to Draco with a huge grin. "Come on, let's explore and get unpacked. I want to get this honeymoon started."

Draco looked extraordinarily pleased with himself. "So, it's not too much? I was sure you'd enjoy it but thought you might take some convincing."

"Oh, it's definitely too much," Harry said with a chuckle. "And feel free to do all the convincing you like, but really, it's pretty freaking amazing." He leaned in for a quick kiss, then sank into it as it heated. "It…" Kiss. "...is…" Lick. "...simply…" Nibble. "...perfect…"

"Mmm, yes, well, perhaps we should find that master bedroom, yes?" Draco managed to get out as Harry attached himself to Draco's neck. "Oh Merlin…"

Harry felt something in his pocket interrupting, but his mind was not registering.

"Harry. Your pocket is vibrating. Mmm…"

"Uncle Harry? Uncle Draco?"

"Harry, your pocket is talking to us. Seriously, stop! It's Teddy, you dolt." Draco pushed Harry off him, who stood there glassy eyed for a moment as the voice continued from his pocket.

"Oh crap!" He grabbed the communication mirror from his pocket and tapped it once. "Sorry, Teddy. We're just getting settled in."

His godson's face appeared in the mirror with Draco's patented smirk on his young face. "Oh, is that what you kids are calling it these days?"

Harry groaned. "You spent too much time with George and Ron this summer, Ted. Okay, so, what's the news? What house?!"

Teddy looked from his godfather to his new honorary godfather and gave an evil grin. "Why Slytherin, of course, Uncle Harry."

Harry took a moment to recover from his shock, then plowed forward. "Teddy, that's great! Any house would be lucky to have you."

Draco and Teddy both burst out laughing, and Harry just looked at them. "What?"

Trying to talk through his laughter, Teddy continued. "Uncle Harry, the look of shock on your face was perfect. You were right, Uncle Draco. That was a-maz-ing. Phew. Hold on, let me catch my breath. Wow." He took a deep breath.

"Okay, seriously, Uncle Harry, that was perfect. I'm not in Slytherin. I'm in Hufflepuff, just like you and Gram predicted. Oh geez, that was bloody brilliant. Thanks for the idea, Uncle Draco."

"Ha-ha. I think you were right the first time with Slytherin. Very funny tormenting your old godfather that way. So, tell me about the rest! How was the train ride? Did you make any new friends? How was the feast? Who's in your dorm?"

Harry listened avidly while Teddy described his day in detail, slightly jealous of his godson for embarking on this adventure without danger and darkness hanging over him. Just a kid going off to school for the first time. Draco must have noticed because he squeezed his hand.

Teddy was winding down and gave a big yawn. "Well, I'm tired, and I'm sure you want to get back to _ settling in _." He wiggled his eyebrows. "G'night Uncle Harry, night Draco."

"G'night, oh best beloved," Harry told him softly.

Teddy rolled his eyes and smiled, then closed the connection and Harry saw his own green eyes peering back at him once more.

"Hogwarts… Can you imagine how different things might have been if I had just shaken your hand on the train?"

"No, Potter, we've been through this before. It wouldn't have been different. We might have been slightly friendlier for the first few weeks, but I was a little git and would have pissed you off the moment I opened my mouth to Weasley or Granger or Longbottom, and you were a self-righteous little prick. We were too different and too young to understand other people's points of view."

Harry nodded, conceding the point once again, and looked around the kitchen. "Come on, let's explore and get _ settled in _."

"Definitely."


	3. The Aurors

**A/N: ****Chapter Warning: There be some sexy stuff ahead in this chapter! Just a heads up. It IS a honeymoon, after all. If you prefer to skip it when it starts, just jump to the next time entry breakpoint.**

A/N2: Chapters 1 and 2 have been rewritten significantly, and this chapter 3 was originally part of chapter 2. If you are returning to this story after having read them previous to Jan 6, I recommend rereading those.

* * *

**Chapter 3 - The Aurors**

**_Saturday, 5 September, 6:25am _**

The early morning light poured through the French doors from the balcony, slowly bringing Draco to wakefulness. He stretched, then cuddled back down into the luxurious bedding. He smiled in pleasure, smug in the fact that he was able to find this gem in the wilderness. He had been horrified when Harry had suggested a "cabin in the mountains with no one else around." He had visions of bugs and outdoor toilets and cold showers.

This place, though, was really quite lovely. The master bath had a gorgeous multi-headed shower big enough for them both, a large jetted tub, and towels that reminded him of acromantula silk with their softness and absorbency, but that were purely Muggle in make. He was truly impressed with the entire island, really, which surprised him.

Harry was already out and about, which _didn't _surprise him. His husband _(husband!) _liked to start his day with a workout most days. He figured he'd find him in the fitness centre or pool if he went looking. Draco preferred to sleep a bit later, but with the time difference between New York and London, he was guessing he had slept later than was his usual.

Glancing at the clock and seeing a very early half-past six in the morning, he decided to just go with it and find Harry. Maybe they'd break-in the pool like they did the jacuzzi the night before. With that idea growing in his mind (and perhaps in his groin), he pulled on the ultra-soft robe the lodge provided and headed down.

In the fitness centre, he decided to just stop and watch as the sweat poured down Harry's golden arms. A decade as Auror had really done well for his physique. He was in top shape, and as a senior Auror, required the same from those on his team. The best part, other than the obvious job advantages, was the perks for Draco. He must have groaned as Harry flexed or something, because suddenly a pair of bright green eyes were on him. When he had his contacts in like he did now, those eyes moved from beautiful to lethal.

He continued his workout but maintained his eye contact with a smirk. "So, what are we going to do today? We haven't left the island in the four days we've been here. Even I am going a little stir crazy."

"Well," he drawled, "I can think of something to keep us busy this morning without a doubt. But yes, I will admit that one can only take so much of this solitude. I was almost ready to suggest that we try that terrible sounding fishing sport, if for no other reason than to try something different. The jet skis were quite a bit of fun, but perhaps we should attempt the mainland today? It appears to be a good bit cooler, anyway."

Harry put down the barbell he was lifting and toweled his face, then prowled across the room toward his husband. He reminded Draco of a large jungle cat stalking his prey, and he immediately felt his body react. He loved when Harry was in a dominant mood, as it made things much more interesting. He felt a hand reach out and grab him, pulling him against the sweaty body, simultaneously disgusted and aroused at the smell.

"Shower," Draco managed to get out. "Let's take this to that amazing shower." He turned and started to run. "Last one there is on his knees!"

He heard Harry bark out a laugh right behind him, then overtake him on the stairs and grab him from behind. "Who are you kidding, you'll be on your knees either way," he huffed into Draco's ear. It was probably a good thing that he had no intention of winning, as his arousal made it rather difficult to run at that point.

"You wish, Potter."

Harry pushed him back up against the wall of the staircase and ground his erection against him, attaching him mouth to the base of Draco's neck. Harry's hands wrapped around to grab his arse, pulling it even more tightly against him as he massaged and sucked and thrusted.

"We're going to fall down these damned stairs if you don't let me go."

"I won't let you fall. Trust me."

The words were whispered, barely audible except they were right at his ear, and the heat inside him doubled. He leaned back onto the next step, unable to hold himself up any longer. Harry followed him down, holding his shoulders up even now, keeping him from any discomfort. Lifting Draco's shirt off, he began trailing his mouth down, slowly taking time to caress and lick and touch each scar, each mark, each nipple.

The small trail of blond hair, hardly visible, was the next to receive attention, as Harry's hand played with the small wisps, bringing shivers in its wake. Harry leaned down further and blew on gently across the hair, knowing how that drove him wild, making him thrust up, unable to contain himself any longer, begging to be touched.

Harry just smiled knowingly, pulling down his loose pyjama bottoms to allow access to his engorged cock. He looked up at Draco through his eyelashes and licked the precum off the tip. Draco moaned and thrust again, but Harry moved with him, urging him on to fuck his mouth. Harry adjusted, resting Draco on the edge of the step so he could reach down and begin moving his finger across his balls, then back. He reached up and waited for Draco to wet his finger, then returned and started working him open.

"I think we'd better move this the rest of the way upstairs, I don't have any lube," Harry murmured.

"Don't care. Just fuck me. Harry." Draco was practically pleading.

"You'll care later. Hold on." Harry grabbed his wand that had fallen to the step below, then cast a quick lubrication spell. "Not as good, but better than nothing."

"Hurry up, Potter, I'm waiting," Draco panted, reaching down to stroke his own now abandoned cock.

Harry growled. "Did I tell you to touch yourself? I don't think so." Oh Merlin, he felt himself grow even harder at the order and moaned.

Harry moved his fingers back to Draco's hole, this time with two fingers reaching up and curling, searching. Draco pushed himself down, trying to help, but Harry crushed his mouth back down toward his, distracting him. He reached an arm up around Harry's neck, and just whispered. "Now. Please."

It was Harry's turn to moan at the plea, withdrawing his hand to pull himself free of his own bottoms, then dragging Draco's arse toward him. Harry rubbed his cock against Draco's rim, teasing, teasing, waiting for him to object. Draco looked up and met Harry's eyes, pleading, then he was in. He waited for Draco to adjust, then slowly entered deeper with each thrust, still teasing and enticing Draco to beg yet again.

"Faster, Harry. Go Harder." The whine to his voice was evidently enough, as Harry finally complied, pounding Draco into the stairs in what should have been the most awkward of positions, but just felt glorious. Sweat was once again dripping down Harry's brow when he reached down between them to grasp Draco's cock and stroked in rhythm to his thrusts. Draco felt himself crest toward the edge, then exploded, cumming over Harry's fist while he continued several final, massive thrusts until he, too, had reached completion.

Draco finally caught his breath and laid back, trying to suppress a giggle that was attempting to escape. Harry was usually annoyed when Draco giggled after orgasms, but he couldn't help it. He just felt so good. The giggle escaped anyway, and Harry just glared. "Potter, you just fucked me silly on the stairs. If I can't laugh at that, what can I?"

"Fine." Harry pulled out and groaned, then knelt on the step and braced his forehead on Draco's knee. "I think I need a nap."

Draco laughed and pulled Harry up to the bedroom. It was going to be a fun day.

* * *

**_Saturday, 5 September, 10:45am _**

If only the fun would extend beyond the damned bedroom. Draco was highly displeased at the need to drive everywhere. They could have Apparated if they'd known where they were going, but they didn't, so this red lorry that Harry called an Equinox for some reason would have to do.

Harry seemed to enjoy taking the mountain roads like he was flying a broom. Sure, he was going the posted speed, but it was too fast for Draco's comfort around twisty roads they didn't know. They passed through little towns that he wasn't sure even counted as towns, as they appeared to have about ten houses, a post office, and a pizza shop, then finally ended up in an actual city.

Lake Placid appeared to be the home of some past Olympic game, which Harry seemed surprised to learn that Draco knew about. Seriously, as though he wasn't learned in the ancient Greeks. He was slightly surprised to know that the Muggles still held them, but he kept silent in that regard. They walked through little shops, making purchases for those back home, and just enjoying the early September day, which seemed to be a bit cooler than the locals expected.

Draco was enjoying his time away from the normal pace of London, but he still felt ridiculously bored. He needed something to excite him, and little "cities" like this weren't going to help. If they were going to spend the next ten days in the area, he was going to have to find something more interesting to catch his attention.

Driving back to the island had him wracking his brain for some ideas. He really didn't want to deal with anything related to work, and it seemed ridiculous to watch the telly on his honeymoon. Harry seemed to be reading his mood, as he spoke up.

"I picked up some pamphlets at the visitor centre while you were in the loo. Evidently there's a larger city called Lake George about ninety minutes south of here that has an amusement park and some larger entertainment, if you want. I'm not so sure about that, but I also saw that it's only about two hours north of here to the Canadian border and Montreal. We could go up there for an overnight if you like and you could get that dose of big city you're craving. I can see it in your eyes, you know."

Draco laughed. "That obvious, am I? Let's look through it when we get back and we'll see. That might be good for a night."

* * *

**_Saturday, 5 September, 5:30pm _**

They parked the lorry then moved to the private apparition point that John had shown them on, Apparating to the island's dock. Passing the boat house, they noticed an unknown official looking boat docked. They met each other's eyes and Harry could practically feel the nerves pouring off Draco. Draco had spent a few years right after the war being harassed by local law enforcement in France where he had been doing his advanced Potions studies, and while he was generally at ease with British Aurors at this point due to his close relationship with Harry, foreign Aurors still made him uneasy.

Harry led him to the cart, and they rode quietly over to John's cottage hoping to get some answers. On the front porch were two people they didn't recognise, though Harry recognised their long waistcoats as American Auror Vests. There were standard issue and usually spelled with shield charms against both spells and bullets.

Draco allowed him to take the lead, but he took a split moment to size them up before speaking. The man looked pretty average with dark blond hair, maybe in his forties, and had a bumbling, ridiculous air about him. The woman was small with a mass of dark finger curls surrounding her face. She reminded Harry a bit of Hermione with her stiff posture and mien of confidence.

"Good afternoon," Harry smiled congenially. "Might we be of some help?"

The Aurors looked up, and while the younger woman seemed to just be sizing them up, the older man literally gawked. Great. Even in America, evidently. Harry sighed, and waited for it.

"Harry… Ah, Mr. Potter, sir, it's a pleasure to meet you. Mr. Conroy here was being very quiet about the current occupants of the island, and now I understand that he was only protecting your much-deserved privacy. An honour, sir. Truly an honour," the man gushed.

Harry wanted to roll his eyes, but years of experience and Draco's instructions had taught him how to use this to his advantage. He decided to go with charming, even if he wanted to scowl and storm off from this interruption to his holiday.

"Welcome, Aurors-… hmm… I apologise. You appear to have me at a disadvantage, because you obviously know who I am, but I'm afraid I don't know you. Could you help me a bit?" And cue the Charming Smile.

"Auror D-David Jackson, Mr. Potter." He stammered. "And this is my partner, Auror Heather Senko. We apologise for interrupting your vacation-"

"Honeymoon, Auror. You're interrupting my _honeymoon _."

Two sets of eyes immediately turned to Draco, one in astonishment, the other in acknowledgement. Clearly the woman was more up to date on current events than her partner, and better at interacting with the unexpected as she didn't seem at all surprised at any part of the situation. Well, at least one of them appeared competent.

"My goodness, yes, congratulations, Mr. Potter. And um, yes, Mr. Potter?" he asked Draco who had seemed to relax and had begun to enjoy the spectacle now that it was clear this had nothing to do with either Harry or him.

"Draco Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy will be fine for now and will have the added advantage of keeping things clearer, Auror. Thank you."

"Right, Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy." He seemed to have finally gathered his wits. "As I was saying, we are quite sorry for interrupting your honeymoon, but there's been a magical crime in the area, and we are investigating all known magical residences and rental properties. Of course, we had no idea that you were here, and it'll just be protocol you know, but we have to ask a few questions so that we can cross you off the list and move on."

Auror Senko looked ready to stun her partner to make him shut up, and Harry wanted to laugh. He agreed with her, as this was not how to run an interview, even one that was just gathering a few facts. He looked to her and smiled again, trying to encourage her to take over so they could get this over with.

She nodded and stepped forward. "Mr. Potter, or should I say Senior Auror Potter?"

Perfect. She really was informed, which would he hoped would make this run more smoothly. "Mr. Potter is fine. I'm definitely not on duty. How can we help?"

"Please tell us where you were on Thursday evening this week? That would be September 3rd, between the hours of around 5pm and 9pm?"

Harry sighed in relief. Perfect, they even had an alibi during that time, which would help the matter. He was unsure what this was about, but alibis were always nice. "We were in the lodge having a cooking lesson from Chef Daniel. We invited him to stay for dinner that evening, and he was with us from about 4pm until approximately 9:30pm. I'm sure John can give you his contact information to verify, though I expect he'll probably be at the lodge now preparing dinner."

She nodded. "Yes, that matches what he told us, so that's tidy and will cross all three of you off our list of necessary checks. Other than that, have you seen or heard anything suspicious since you've been in the area? Have you met any magicals other than John and Chef Daniel?"

Draco spoke up, "Actually, today is the first day we've been off the island since we arrived." He grinned at Auror Jackson and continued with a drawl, "You know, _honeymoon _and all."

Auror Jackson blushed and looked uncomfortable, but Auror Senko just laughed. "Yes, I can imagine. Congratulations, by the way. So, no contact with any magicals, and nothing suspicious. I think that pretty much answers our questions, then."

She turned to John. "Thank you, Mr. Conroy. You have been most helpful. Here's my card if you do see or hear anything that you think may help. Otherwise, we shall let you gentlemen get back to your honeymoon." She grinned.

"Wait," Draco interrupted before she could move away. Harry was confused, but Draco dragged him away for just a minute. "Harry, don't you think you should get an idea of what's going on so we can keep an eye open like she asked? How do we know what may help if she doesn't give us any information?"

He looked so eager that Harry almost laughed. "All right, I suppose I could see what she'll tell us." He turned back to the Aurors. "My husband just reminded me that we have no idea what this is about, so we won't know if we do see something you'll need to know. Are you able to give us any details?"

Senko turned to Jackson and he nodded, obviously still in awe of Harry, although Harry was starting to wonder a bit about the way Jackson was watching him. "Of course. Thursday evening a body suddenly appeared in a field on the side of McKenzie's Mountain several miles from here. We probably wouldn't have found it for several days, but a couple of teenagers were parked nearby and witnessed it. They called the police, but their claim of the sudden appearance got us called in. We've confirmed that there's magical traces on the body and have identified him as a wizard named Willard Whitestone." Then she added as though it was of significance, "That would be Willard Whitestone of the New Hampshire Whitestone family."

Draco gave a slow whistle, and Harry looked over questioning. "Basically, American equivalent of the Sacred Twenty-Eight," he filled in. "Big money, big politics, big power."

Senko nodded. "Exactly. So, as you can imagine, this is currently the top priority for our Lake Placid office. There's not a large magical community in these parts, mostly small pockets of families spread out."

Harry was finally feeling curious. "What were the magical traces, may I ask?"

She seemed to weigh her answer carefully, then nodded. "_ Auror _Potter," she began, making it clear that she was sharing this information with him as a colleague. "There was evidence of Cruciatus Curse, and probable AK, though that's not confirmed. His heart was stopped with no other signs to cause the death, though it is possible a prolonged Crucio could stress the heart. The family doesn't want an autopsy, so that part is unclear. Of course, the magical appearance of the body and the victim being a wizard also point to a magical source, so we've been tasked with questioning all known magical people in the area."

"Do you have reason to believe he was actually in this area instead of just Apparated here?"

"I'm sorry, I can't answer that for you."

"I understand. Well, it's a shame to hear about something like this, but we wish you good hunting, Auror. If we see or hear anything, we'll definitely be in contact."

"Thank you. Come on, Jackson, enough gawking. I'm sure Mr. Potter gets enough of that without your help. Best wishes to the both of you and have a good night."

She pulled her partner away, and Harry and Draco looked to John, who shrugged. "Never had anything like that happen here. I'm so sorry for the interruption. Can I get you guys anything tonight?"

Draco looked contemplative, so Harry just shook his head and wished him a good night, then headed back to the cart to drive on to the lodge. He finally started laughing to himself and shook his head.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Me. They almost had me fooled for a moment with that act."

"Act? The Aurors?"

"Yeah, that whole 'I'm a gawking imbecile" act that Auror Jackson put on. He was watching me the whole time under that guise, but I think he was trying to see how I'd react."

"What?! You think they suspect you of something?"

"Oh geez, Draco. Calm down. No, I don't think that. I think they were curious about me as a foreign Auror and all that Man Who Vanquished nonsense, and decided to play with me to see what I'd do. They were having fun with it. I was curious about the look in Jackson's eye at one point, but then Senko clenched it for me when she called him out on the gawking at the end."

"That's ridiculous, Potter. You Aurors are weird creatures."

"Gotta keep it interesting somehow, I suppose."

Harry was still laughing to himself several minutes later as they approached the lodge when he noticed his husband's silence. He spent a moment trying to figure out what was going through his husband's mind, but that was usually a lost cause. He was tired anyway, and just wanted to relax and enjoy the evening.

They went out to the balcony and were comfortable ensconced on a couple of the low slopey chairs (John called them Adirondack chairs, but he figured "low slopey" was a better description), each with a glass of wine in hand while they looked out over the lake and mountains. Draco finally spoke. "I think I figured out what I want to do this week, Harry."

"Mmm?" It really was beautiful out here, in silence and calm. He smiled as the breeze blew across his face.

"I want to have a Harry Potter Adventure."

"Mmm…" What was that smell, anyway? Honeysuckle? Goldenrod?

"Harry, are you listening to me? I want to have an adventure. With you. You and Me. Together."

"Mmmhmm… Together, of course." He loved being together, not alone. It was nice.

"And then I'm going to fuck you right in front of John while you wear duck ears and quack."

"Sounds perfect."

"Harry!"

"What? I'm listening! You want an adventure with shucking duck ears. That's weird, but I guess we can find some?" Harry replayed what he had just said and scowled. "Oh, come on! When are you taking that taboo off me? The wedding has been over for almost a week and I still can't swear? That's shucking ridiculous. Broody Heck!"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake. That's what you found odd about that sentence? Fine, I'll lift the taboo, and now that you're actually listening to me, pay attention. I. Want. To. Have. A. Harry. Potter. Adventure. Together. Let's investigate."

Harry just stared at him while Draco took out his wand and removed the taboo that had been on him for the last week leading up to the wedding. Evidently, he swore terribly when he was nervous, and Draco just hadn't trusted him to keep it clean on his own. "An adventure. Huh?"

"Look, for years I watched you on your Weasley-Granger-Potter adventures while you investigated like bloody Scooby Doo, and now it's my turn. That's what I want to do with you this week for fun. Let's investigate and find out this mystery."

"You know, I usually came close to getting either myself or my friends killed with each of those adventures. And remind me to cut back on your telly time if you have gotten around to watching cartoons."

"It was with Teddy, though I do identify with Fred, I think. I just need an orange cravat. Anyway, yes, I know it wasn't glamorous for you, but you're a trained Auror now. You know what you're doing, and I want to know what it's like to be like Weasley for a bit. And if you tell him I said that, I'll kill you both."

"Well, I don't fuck Ron, so there's that. And yes! I can swear again!"

"So, can we do it? Please? Can we investigate the mystery tomorrow?" He walked his fingers up Harry's arm from the next chair. "I'll make it worth your while."

"Fine. But you are not calling me Shaggy."

"Oh, you are most definitely Shaggy." He waggled his eyebrows. "Ru-roh, Raggy."

"Ewww."

* * *

**_Saturday, 5 September, 6:15pm _**

"So, what did you think?" Jackson asked as they steered the boat back across the lake.

"Hmm? Potter? He was taller than I imagined."

"Everyone's taller than you imagined, you Pixie." Now that was unfair, Heather thought. She was a good 5'4", and as Harry Potter seemed to loom above her, she'd stick with her impression.

"Seriously, though," Heather continued, "I don't think we fooled him. He wasn't sure at first, but he seemed to be laughing at us a bit by the end. He was nice, though. Not the pampered prick you predicted."

"Say that five times fast?"

"No."

"Any other impressions?"

"Well, I have no reason to think he's involved, but I think he's protective of his husband, though I suppose that's to be expected." She paused. "They're really cute together."

"And that's your professional opinion, then, Auror?"

"Yup! Now what's next on our list?"


	4. The Meeting

**_A/N at end of chapter_**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Meeting**

**_Monday, 7 September, 8:00am _**

Breakfast the next day was full of anticipation on Draco's part, and apparent exasperation on Harry's. Draco knew he was being a little over the top, but he had waited since he was eleven years old, so nearly _ twenty years _ to have an adventure like this with Harry, and here they were on their honeymoon and it was amazing. There were no Auror partners or Weasleys or prior commitments to get in the way. They were going to do this.

"So, where do we start? Do we start questioning people? Do we go to where they found the body?"

Harry was clearly trying not to laugh at him, which normally would have pissed him off, but was fine for now as long as he had a plan. "Well, let's figure out what all we know and find the gaps, and then see what we can do to fill them."

Draco grabbed some paper and a pen, grudgingly admitting to himself that Muggles had it right on these particular elements. He opened the notebook and started his notes.

"So, here's what we know," Draco began writing. "First, the body was Willard Whitestone of the New Hampshire Whitestone family, a very prominent family. What I didn't tell you yesterday is that he's a bit of a bastard. I've met him, and I would not leave him alone in a room with a woman I was responsible for. He was a nasty piece of work. I think if the Aurors are looking for people with motive, they'll find too many to count."

"Is he married? Are there kids?"

"No, and no. At least, none that he's claimed. His money is all inheritance and trust fund, even though he's nearly forty years old. He doesn't work, other than attending the fundraisers his parents direct him to attend. I haven't heard of any specific vices such as gambling or alcohol, so if they exist, the family has covered it up."

"Well, I'm sure if the killer is in that arena, the Aurors will have to track it down. Let's stick with what _ we _ can investigate, given our limitations. Let's talk about the circumstances and body."

"Got it. That takes me to the second item on our list. The Aurors said the body was hit with Cruciatus, and possibly an Avada Kedavra, though there's been no autopsy to confirm either. Cruciatus is pretty obvious when doing a body scan of the effects on the nervous system, but of course, an AK wouldn't show either. Still, it would have been nice to rule out other causes."

"It would, and it's telling that the family doesn't want an autopsy. That points back to there being something they're hiding that the autopsy would show."

"Agreed. So, the third item," he continued as he detailed the notes, "we have no idea why he was in the area and who he might have been visiting."

"Yes. This is what we're going to try to search out. People might talk to us that wouldn't talk to the authorities. You're not going to pass on information to someone who is clearly a cop if it's just hearsay. But rumors to just the random person at the diner counter? Well, everyone likes gossip."

"Diner?" That sounded terrible. "You don't honestly expect me to eat in a diner, Potter."

"Best place to gather information in small towns, _ Malfoy _. Well, there and the beauty parlour, but we're not the type they'd expect to see getting their hair done in an area like this." He glanced at Draco's perfectly styled hair with a grin.

"Fine. Diner. My stomach hurts just thinking about it. So, when's the best time to go?"

"Diner means morning and lunch, I would think, so let's go early and we'll hit a few. I remember passing some yesterday, so we can stop in for some coffee and toast at each." Harry looked at him and seemed to hear his inner thoughts. "I do hear that diners usually have amazing pie."

Well, at least that was something. Draco did like pie, and perhaps he could make a list of the best pies in the area to leave for future residents of the lodge. He'd do a study then, and it'd give him a side project while they were solving the mystery. Perfect.

"I suppose I can order pie then as a cover story, of course."

"Of course." Whoever taught Harry to smirk like that should be cursed. It certainly couldn't have been _ him _.

* * *

**_ Monday, 7 September, 2:00pm _**

Harry pulled the SUV into their third diner, though only the first of the day, wondering how long this would keep Draco's interest. Investigations could be monotonous and boring, but Draco seemed to have learned a great deal more patience over the years in his potions work, so perhaps it would last a couple days.

Harry still wanted to have a holiday, so he had insisted on an early morning hike that would take them past the location where the body was found on McKenzie Mountain. It had been a beautiful trek, though a challenging one, even if they didn't find any additional clues. Draco seemed to enjoy it as well, which was always a plus.

Now they were settled in for a late lunch at a diner called Maloney's Grille, and once again Harry wanted to laugh at how out of place his husband looked. He wasn't sure if this one even qualified as a diner, as it was a bit nicer than the others and didn't have that bar with stools where most of the locals seemed to congregate to chat. Either way, it definitely wasn't the classy restaurant in which one would expect to find Draco in London. Even in denim and one of Harry's t-shirts, he stood out.

They sat at the table in the corner of the restaurant and perused the menu.

"Potter, it's nearly all breakfast food on here, and almost completely fried, at that. This sounds disgusting."

Harry looked around, embarrassed. "Keep your voice down. There's a list of sandwiches on the back. I think they're only open until three o'clock anyway, so it makes sense. Look, you love BLTs. Get that and some chips and shut up."

"Fine, but when I'm fat from eating this shit, you're stuck with me."

"Of course, I am. And you'll not get fat from one BLT, obviously, as you eat bacon sandwiches regularly and are as fit as always. It was a tough hike this morning, so we've earned it. I think I'm going to get the club."

A small voice from the next table piped up. "The pancakes are the best. You should get the pancakes with chocolate chips."

Harry turned and saw a young boy, probably eight or nine years old with light brown hair, colouring a map in a book, crayons strewn across the table and a glass of chocolate milk to the side. He wasn't looking up, but just continued to colour.

"Pancakes with chocolate chips, huh? Are those your favourite?"

"Mmmhmm. My mom makes them, and they are the best. If you ask nicely, she'll even make the chips into a smiley face. But she'll ask you to eat your fruit with them." He finally looked up and made a face that showed he clearly didn't agree with that demand. His long lashes surrounded huge brown eyes, and the rest of his face still showed the roundness of early childhood.

A waitress came up to Harry and Draco's table, and the boy greeted her. "Mom tell them how good the pancakes are. They talk different. Are they from the United Kingdom, mom?"

She looked exasperated and glanced at the boy who was clearly her son, given his exclamations and the short spiky brown hair that obviously matched her son's despite her blond tipped highlights. "Ethan, settle down and let me take care of them." She turned back to them. "I'm sorry. Ethan's normally at school, but it's Labor Day, so… Still, he normally doesn't talk to the customers. If he's bothering you, I'll move him."

"No, no, not at all," Harry hurried to say. This was the perfect way to get some information. Kids were full of it. "My godson is a bit older than him, and I miss this age. Please don't worry about it. I do think we're ready to order, though."

She smiled, and Harry took a moment to pay a bit more attention to the woman now. She would have been very average looking, average build, average height, average appearance, but her arms were covered in delicate floral sleeve tattoos, making her stand out and adding an aura of strength. "Of course. I'm sorry. Let me start over. My name is Jennifer, and I'll be your server today. The soup today is Garden Vegetable, and our lunch special is an open-faced roast beef. So, what can I get for you?"

"The soup sounds perfect, Jennifer, thank you. Add on a club sandwich with a Coke for me."

"I'll have the BLT and chips, please, with a cup of tea."

"Mom! Does he mean fries? I read that they call chips fries in England."

Jennifer rolled her eyes and looked at Draco. "You heard the expert. American chips or British chips?" She grinned.

"Good catch. Definitely British chips, so French fries, I guess I should have said." Draco smiled at the boy. "Thank you, good sir."

The waitress laughed. "He's definitely going to bug you now. Are you sure he's fine?"

"Definitely. We'll move if we need to, I promise."

"All right." She looked at her son. "Marie is right over there keeping an eye on you bud, so you behave yourself and leave these men to eat. When they say they're done talking, you're done. Got it?"

"Got it, mom."

"I'll be back in a few with your drinks and soup." And with a sharp look at her son and a ruffle of his head, she headed toward the kitchen.

Harry decided to pump the kid for whatever information he could find. "So, is there anything exciting happening around here lately? This town seems very quiet."

Ethan, she had called him, seemed to be back to his colouring, but responded without looking up. "Yeah, lots of stuff. You guys are from the United Kingdom, and that's exciting. I like to see people from other places. I learned all about the United Kingdom on TV, and it's made up of four countries, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. You don't sound very funny, so are you from England?"

Draco just stared at the kid, apparently not sure what to make of him. Harry had more experience with kids, and he reminded him somewhat of Bill and Fleur's middle daughter who was slightly obsessive about some subjects. Ethan's mannerisms and bluntness were very reminiscent of Dominique's, so Harry kept that in mind as he answered.

"We are. We live in London. Do you know where that is?"

"Of course. London is the capital of England and the largest city in the United Kingdom with almost 8 million people. I know all of the capitals and all the of the flags. The American flag is my favorite because it has fifty stars and thirteen stripes that represent the states and the original colonies. What does the British flag represent? It's called the Union Jack, right?" He finally looked up at that.

Harry smiled. Definitely like Dominique. "Very good. It is called the Union Jack and is a combination of different flags of the different countries. Have you met many other people who aren't from around here?"

"I see lots, but I don't usually talk to them. There were some policemen here last week from someplace else, but they talked to mom about adult stuff and I wasn't allowed to listen."

"I bet you hear lots even when you're not allowed to listen," Harry prompted.

Ethan smiled. "Maybe." He went back to his colouring. "They said some guy died, but I bet if the guy died, it was because he was a bad guy and had it coming, or maybe he was just really sick or something."

Jennifer walked up with their drinks and Harry's soup, and looking around Harry saw it was mostly empty in the diner. "Are you about to close? I'm sorry if we're keeping you late."

"No, not at all. We don't close for another hour; it just gets slow after the lunch rush." She looked over to her son then back to Harry. "So, has he interrogated you yet?"

Harry laughed. "A bit. He was saying there were some police here last week. No trouble around here, I hope. We're on holiday and I'm hoping there's nothing to worry about."

She stiffened, and muttered, "Little ears." Sighing, she shook her head. "It's generally a very safe area, you should be fine. The police were just investigating some big shot that was found nearby. I really don't know the details. They were in and out of here in about ten minutes. Trying to track last movements or something, I guess."

"That's a shame," Draco spoke up. "Had you seen the guy? It'd be interesting to have information like that helpful to a police investigation. Exciting."

Harry glared at Draco, but Jennifer seemed to be distracted and wasn't listening too closely. "Exciting, yes, well. Excuse me. I need to get the check to that table about to leave."

"Seriously? Exciting?"

"What? I was just trying to see if she knew anything more."

"Fred Jones, indeed."

"Shut up."

"Grammy always said 'shut up' is not nice," came the voice from the next table.

Harry turned to Ethan again. "Oh yeah? What else does Grammy always say?"

"She said to always eat your vegetables, and sometimes things don't make sense because they're magic. I miss Grammy. She died."

"I'm so sorry. She sounds like she was a lot of fun."

"Yeah. She used to watch me when mom had to work and she kept all my secrets, and I kept hers. She said I was special like her mom, my great-great-grandma, 'cause Grammy was actually my great-grandma. I wish I could have met her mom."

"Me, too."

A young man in an apron brought their food to the table, interrupting the conversation. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, thank you. Well, I think it's time for us to eat, Ethan. Thanks for keeping us company."

"Yup!" replied the boy, already back at his colouring.

Harry laughed and glanced at Draco, who was just watching him with a bemused look on his face. "I'll never figure out how you do that. You're so good with kids."

"Lots of Lupin and Weasley practise. Anyway, I think we've gotten all we can here. Let's finish up and head back to the lodge. I'm ready for a kip."

"What's a honeymoon for if not afternoon naps, right?"

Jennifer had returned to check on them and overheard the last bit. "Honeymoon?" Her eyes lit up. "Oh, how lovely. Congratulations! What's your favourite pie? I'll get you a slice on the house to celebrate."

"Oh, that's not necessary. We wouldn't want to get you in trouble with the owner."

"I _ am _ the owner, so no trouble. Cherry? Apple? Butterscotch?"

"Well," Harry smiled, and Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm not one to turn down a bit of butterscotch pie. That would be wonderful, thank you. And thank you and your son for the wonderful lunch. This is quite good."

"You are quite welcome. And you, Mr. Newlywed?" she asked Draco.

"Some cherry pie would be most welcome. Thank you, Jennifer."

She smiled, filled their drinks, and disappeared again.

"Well, if nothing else, the people around here are pleasant. I still feel like we haven't gotten any closer to the mystery, though. The Aurors were evidently here, but that makes sense with how close we are to the mountain. I haven't seen any sign of wizards, though. Only Muggles."

"No-Majes, Draco. America. Anyway, we can spend tomorrow checking a few more places, but I do want to go up to Montreal now that we've learned a bit more about it. It looks interesting, and we can take a break from this."

Draco didn't look pleased, but Harry knew he did want to see Montreal. "Besides, sometimes the best clues come when you're not looking for them."

They finished their lunch and their pie, then prepared to leave.

"Bye, mate. It was nice meeting you." Harry extended his hand to Ethan, curious to see if the boy would take it. He knew Dominique didn't like to touch strangers, so he wouldn't be bothered either way.

The boy grinned, though, showing his crooked front tooth and missing bottom tooth, and took Harry's hand. Only years of covering visible reactions during interrogations stopped him from showing his shock. His hand practically vibrated with the tingle of the boy's magic. Harry looked up at Draco, who had appeared to miss that anything had happened, then back to the boy and smiled.

"Thank you for talking with us, Ethan. Maybe we'll meet you again around town."

Ethan nodded, and went back to his colouring. "Sure, that'd be cool."

Testing out his theory, Harry moved to the counter to pay his bill, and smiled at Jennifer as she reached out to take his money. He decided to grab some change, so he'd have a reason to touch her hand as he handed her the cash. No tingle, but almost an itch. She wasn't a witch, but she did have something magical about her. Interesting. "Thank you, again. Maybe we'll be back in for breakfast one day before we leave."

"Well, then, we hope to see you again. Have a great day!"

And with that, they left, but Harry's mind was racing. They got out to the car, and he rolled down the windows in silence, then pulled out of the parking lot.

"Ah, Harry? What happened? Something happened, I know, and I can't be in on the mystery if you don't share."

"It's not about the mystery. Ethan, the kid. He's magical. When he shook my hand, I could feel it. His mother's not, though she's got something special going on I don't recognize, but he is fully magical, and relatively strong for a child, at that."

"He's ridiculously cute, but he's not your typical kid, is he?"

"No, I think he may be Autistic. He reminds me a bit of Dominique." Harry sat quietly, driving leisurely down the winding mountain road, the occasional red or yellow leaf falling on the window. "What do you know about Muggleborns in America? Do they traditionally have a hard time of it?"

"Potter, aren't you ever going to learn history?"

"Why? I have you and Hermione. Seriously, though. Are Muggleborns discriminated against here? I've spent so much time in our country fixing things that I sometimes forget about other countries."

"Don't worry, it's not nearly as bad as it was in Britain. In the states, it's much less about blood purity and how you were born. True, there are some powerful families like the Whitestones that are well respected for their lineage, but most people are just intermixed. The biggest difference is that it was against the law until 1965 for any No-Maj to know about magic, and of course, that also means they couldn't intermarry."

"That's barbaric!"

"Yeah, I suppose, but it was all because of an outrageous breach of the Statute of Secrecy in the late eighteenth century. It's understandable, but yes, barbaric. When it was repealed, it changed the laws, but wizarding society is not so easily changed, and they mostly keep separate. I don't know much about how the First-Gens interact with their parents, but I can't imagine it's easy. A few years ago, I'd say it was likely similar to Britain, though at least Dumbledore went through the motions of keeping parents involved with their children."

"Draco-"

"No Harry. You can't argue this one. Did he tell any of the Muggleborns' parents about the petrifications in second year? Did he ask Hermione's parents' permission for her to be part of the second task in the Triwizard? I assure you he asked Weasley's and Chang's. I'm not sure about Fleur's, as that would have been Madame Maxime's job, but think about it. Claiming to support Muggleborns is not the same as actually _ supporting _ Muggleborns."

Harry knew he was right. He'd thought about this before, but never liked to dwell on the past these days, as he couldn't change what had happened. He could only make it better. "It's not like that now."

"No, it's not. The day-student and weekend-pass options may be two of the biggest changes for Hogwarts, but they're also two of the most progressive for Muggleborn students. Wizarding families can come visit anytime, but Muggle families have no way to see their children. This change is huge. I don't believe Ilvermorny is there yet. Some of the others might be, like Salem Witches' Institute, but that's all female and I honestly don't know about the others."

They pulled up to the pier and parked, and Harry just sat thinking.

Draco spoke up. "I liked them. I know you talked to him mostly, but I was watching and there was something about the kid that was just charming, and his mother obviously adores him. He seemed to know so much, but also seemed younger than I'd expect at the same time. He was really special."

"Yeah, I feel terrible that I picked up on this, but his mother doesn't know. He'll turn eleven, and they'll come and tell him and take him away from her." Harry looked at Draco. "What if we told her about magic and about him? We can give her a three-year head start on planning, and give her some options, you know?"

"What about Montreal?"

"Let's talk to her first, tomorrow maybe, then we'll see. Besides, we didn't really get anywhere on our tracking Whitestone. We can talk to her, and maybe hit a few more little shops or diners."

"Sounds like a plan." Draco grinned. "Come on, gang. Let's go!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake. Stop with the Scooby Doo."

"Jinkies, Shaggy."

* * *

**A/N:** If you like Ethan, but wonder if he's written accurately as an Autistic child, I'd like to give a friendly reminder that every Autistic person (and every Neurodiverse person, that's a term that encompasses Autistics and a whole lot of other Neurotypes) is different in the same way every Neurotypical person (that's the term for the rest of us) is different. Ethan is based off my experiences with my own 8-year-old Autistic son, right down to the map obsession and friendly banter with the people at the next table.

Additionally, I do my best to use terminology preferred by the Adult Autistic community that I follow on multiple social media sites, where they prefer the term Autistic Child/Adult/Person, and not person with Autism. If you would like more information about any of those websites, I'd be happy to share them. They do a lot of advocacy for the Autistic community.


	5. The Telling

**Chapter 5: The Telling**

**_Tuesday, 8 September, 3:00pm _**

It was mid-afternoon when Draco and Harry pulled into the empty parking lot of Maloney's Grille. They had spent their morning going through the little general stores they had come upon, and had sandwiches from another little diner, one that reportedly had the world's best apple pie. It wasn't bad, but Draco had high standards for apples.

There were two cars parked near the back, and they were obviously closed. They had hoped to catch her before she left, so when Harry suggested they knock on the kitchen door, Draco figured he'd go with it. They assumed Jennifer and a cook or someone were probably closing up.

A young man in his early twenties opened the door in a dirty white apron. "Did you need something?"

Harry stepped forward. "We were hoping to talk with Jennifer. We met her a few days ago and talked with her and Ethan for a while. We were hoping we could catch her before she left for the evening."

"No can do, man. She leaves at two on school days to pick up the kid. She doesn't like meeting people after hours anyway, so you'd best come back during regular business tomorrow."

"Absolutely, we understand. It's actually pretty important. Do you think we could leave our phone number with you and you can pass it on to her? Then if she wants to call us, she can. Otherwise we'll try to catch her tomorrow."

"This isn't anything legal-related or anything, is it? She's good people and she don't need no trouble." His eyes narrowed even further. "Are you trying to sell her insurance or some crap?"

"She's not in trouble, no, and no, we're not trying to sell her anything, we promise. Here, here's my number where I'm staying. I don't have a mobile, unfortunately, but we'll be back there in about an hour if she wants to call."

"Sure, I guess that's ok. She can do whatever she wants with it. I have to get back to work now so I can go home," and he slammed the door and locked it.

"Well, we're the creepy guys now, I guess," Draco muttered to Harry. "That could have gone better."

"Yeah, well, what do we expect? She's been through a lot and is raising a child on her own. People are going to be protective. We probably should just do what we said and wait for her to call us."

"Is that what we're going to do?"

"Sure. After we walk past the school and the park on this fine day that is just begging to be have outdoor childhood free time." He grinned. "Come on, Fred, I have a plan."

* * *

**_ Tuesday, 8 September, 3:20pm _**

Jennifer Simmons sat on a park bench watching her son play in the afternoon sun. When the weather was nice, she tried to let him have this outlet before they walked home and started homework for the evening. It was early in the school year still, so no homework yet, but she'd get him back in the habit now and do some reading before dinner.

She looked down at her cell phone sitting idle on her lap after her call with Nate. Evidently there were a couple of British guys by looking for her at the diner. She remembered the nice men on their honeymoon she had met the previous day, and since she didn't get many Brits through her diner, she figured it must have been them, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out why.

It should have made her more nervous than it did, actually, given recent events, but all she'd felt from them was friendliness _ (amusement and curiosity) _. She'd always had a good sense of people and could usually get a good read on someone within seconds of meeting them, almost like their inner emotions were pushing at her when she looked at them. Grammy always said it was her own special kind of magic, which made her laugh. She was just good at reading people and was never wrong. Some people were just talented like that.

She hadn't been wrong last Thursday, that was for sure. The second she'd felt that man _ (cruelty) _ , she'd known he was not to be trusted. She would have known even if he hadn't been standing in her living room uninvited. She had no idea how he'd gotten past the dog in the yard out doing her business and in through the locked doors, as she'd even had the top chain lock on since Ethan was home and he sometimes liked to wander outside without asking. However, it happened, he radiated malice and she immediately reached for her taser in her bag, attempting to keep it where it wouldn't be noticed. She would _ not _ be a victim again.

Jen shivered, despite the warm breeze and the happy sounds of children around her. She didn't want to think about that evening. She was going to concentrate on The Now, which was her son _ (happy) _playing cheerfully with another boy on the sliding board. And evidently, The Now was also two handsome smiling men walking closely together and approaching her bench. While it made her nervous that they found her, she still couldn't help but relax a little at the feelings of kindness she got from the darker man, and the more deeply hidden compassion in the other.

The darker man, slightly shorter than the other with stunning green eyes, golden skin, and stylishly tousled dark hair that she had thought was black, but now in the sun showed auburn highlights in the deep brown, sat down next to her, pulling the other man down next to him. They were practically opposites in appearance, as the other man was as fair as his husband was dark. She glanced from the green eyes to piercing gray ones and held in a sigh. These two were ridiculously attractive, and those feelings of kindness and compassion she got from them only added to their appeal.

The darker man _ (kindness) _cleared his throat to get her attention and smiled an adorable smile. "Jennifer? It's good to see you again. We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves yesterday since you were busy. Do you mind if we sit with you for a few minutes?"

As much as she trusted her instincts, she knew she needed to be careful around strange men. She looked around to make sure they still were not alone, then noticed the school's security cameras stationed throughout the playground. This seemed like a safe enough location, she supposed. It wasn't like they could cart her off in broad daylight amongst the other people, most of whom she knew. She glanced at her son, assured he was still playing with Heather Callahan's youngest _ (orneriness) _, so yes, he was safe.

She nodded. "I suppose that'd be fine. I got a call from Nate that you'd stopped by looking for me, and I'm not going to lie, I don't like that you were able to track me down here so quickly."

The man _ (kindness) _smiled and nodded. "I completely understand. My name is Harry Potter, and this is my husband Draco Malfoy. I'm a kind of cop back in London, so I know how to find people." She tensed at that. Cop? Damn! "However," he continued. "Nate, you called him? Nate told us you were picking up your son from school, so it wasn't difficult in this case."

She swore again under her breath as her stomach sank. She'd have to have a talk with Nate, just telling strangers her routine. She just looked at the man, Harry he had said his name was, feeling slightly betrayed by her instincts. "So, you're a cop. Are you investigating me or something? Why track me down?"

"Actually, we told you the truth in the diner. We really are here on our honeymoon and we really did just stop into your diner randomly. He _ (honesty) _ looked slightly embarrassed, then lowered his voice. "Jennifer, what do you know about magic?"

She felt her bowels turn to water as terror filled her. She could barely breathe through the panic, and instinctively did a quick search for Ethan, finding him laughing on the swings. _ Hold it together, Jen, _ she told herself. _ Play it cool. _"I don't know what you're talking about."

He was watching her closely. "And if I asked Ethan what he knew about magic?"

Distantly through the roaring in her ears, she was aware that all the color must have drained from her face as she felt suddenly faint, tears clouding her eyes. She looked up to see matching looks of concern and was nearly overwhelmed by the flood of worry and sympathy that now seemed to emanate from the men.

"Jennifer, please, we know this is frightening, but we'd like to help you."

He was a cop, and he wanted to help, though he probably didn't realize how much help she really needed. God, how she wanted help. She was so lost and alone and had no idea what else to do. These men who she just _ knew _ had good intentions and who knew one of her secrets, they wanted to help her. How could she trust them? How could she _ not _?

Finally, she managed some kind of response. "How do I know you're trying to help me? How do I know you're not trying to… to take Ethan from me or something?" She remembered the threats that night. "How do I know you won't just make me forget everything as soon as we're out of sight?"

Harry _ (shock) _ looked to the other one, Draco _ (surprise) _, and they exchanged glances at her questions. Well, at least they didn't know everything.

Harry looked her in the eye, and she felt the kindness and concern joined by earnestness. "Jennifer, if we were going to do that, we wouldn't have just come here in broad daylight where you could still walk away. We have no reason to do that. We just want to answer your questions and help you in whatever other ways you need."

That made sense, but she was so confused. "Why are you coming to me now? Why talk to me now?"

"Well, we just met you and Ethan, and I have a special talent. I was able to feel Ethan's magic. We talked about it yesterday and decided to come talk to you today. Why _ not _ now?"

Draco _ (hidden compassion and concern) _ whispered something to Harry who nodded. "Can you come with us someplace more private? It's not wise to speak of these things in public. We've rented a lodge on an island near here, and it's completely private where we can talk, or we can go somewhere else you prefer. We just need a place where we can talk through it all and help you decide what to do next, if anything."

She finally was able to feel something other than terror and nerves. She felt a moment's curiosity. "You rented Wizened Isle?" She asked through her barely suppressed tears. "Seriously? That place is legendary. Normally I'd jump at the chance to see it, but…" she looked at her son. "I'd do anything for him. He's my everything. Can you swear that you only have his best interests at heart?"

"I swear it," Harry stated solemnly _ (kindness and sincerity) _.

"And I swear we have nothing but _ both _ of your best interests at heart," Draco added _ (compassion and charity?) _. She looked at him, then to her son, and finally nodded.

"All right. We just live down the street. Let me stop in and get a few things." Her mind was already building a list of what she'd need to bring to entertain her son for a few hours. _ Coloring books, iPad, headphones… _ "Shit. The dog. I can't just leave her as we've been gone all day. To be honest, I'd feel safer if we brought her anyway. Would you mind?" _ Dog food... _

"No, not at all. If the caretaker has an issue with it, she can hang out on the balconies and such, but I don't think it'll be a problem."

The thought of having the dog with them seemed to finally settle her stomach. That dog was extremely protective of them both. "Ethan! Honey, come on, it's time to go on home. We have plans, darling."

"Okay, mom. Coming!"

The somewhat filthy little boy _ (love, always love) _ ran to her and attempted to knock her over as he wrapped his arms around her, then looked to the men. "Hi English guys. Are you going to tell me more about England?"

Harry laughed _ (amusement and pleasure) _. "Absolutely. Come on, we're going to hang out with you guys tonight."

"Awesome!"

* * *

**_ Tuesday, 8 September, 4:30pm _**

Draco watched while Harry helped Jennifer get Ethan settled with the dog, a snack, and a video on the sofa and wondered how this would go. He felt so invested in this child and his future, and it bothered him that the choice was in someone else's hands. He didn't like to feel not in control of the situation.

She turned to him and he tried to smile encouragingly which actually seemed to help. She still looked nervous, but she returned his smile as she joined them.

"Okay, so, where do we start?"

"Maybe we should start with what you want to know," Harry countered.

"How much do you already know? Why do you say Ethan's magical, when we all know there's no such thing as magic? Please, I'm so confused and scared and I just want to know what's going on."

"Fair enough. Come on and sit at the counter here and we'll go through it. I canceled the chef's services tonight in order to have privacy, so I'll make some dinner while we talk. Do you both like lasagna? Pizza?"

"Either would be fine for me, but Ethan will eat the pizza, not lasagna."

"Pizza it is." Harry turned to the refrigerator and started gathering ingredients for the crust. "When I was a kid, I grew up in a suburb outside London. It was probably the most mundane and boring area you can imagine, but sometimes things, _ odd _ things, would happen around me, generally when I was upset or angry. I had no idea what was happening, only that it was unexplainable. Wine?"

He looked at her and she nodded slightly, intent on his words, and Draco got out a bottle of wine and began to pour. Harry continued. "When I turned eleven, a man came to visit me and explained that the odd things I experienced were actually magic." He looked her in the eye as he mixed the dough by hand. "Magic is real." He stopped and pulled out his wand, then pointed it at his dough covered hand. _ "Tergeo." _She gasped as she looked at his now cleaned hands.

Harry smiled, put his wand away, and continued as he began to spread the dough on the tray. "I was accepted and attended a magical boarding school, learning how to control my magic over the next seven years. It's a talent, like music, or art, and needs to be practised, strengthened, and refined. There's a lot more to the story than that, of course, but that's the important part for you and Ethan right now. Magic is real, and there's an entire hidden society of people that keep themselves separated from the mundane world."

"You're both magical?" she asked.

"Yes," Draco answered. "I grew up in a magical family, knowing about it from the beginning, as it's generally hereditary. Harry's is inherited as well, but his parents passed away when he was a child and he was raised by relatives, so it was a surprise to him. There are also children that most American magicals refer to as First-Generation who are born from two entirely non-magical families, though we generally refer to them in Britain as Muggleborn. They enter school having just learned about magic, like Harry did, and there are usually resources to help them integrate that Ethan will be able to take advantage of when it's his time to go."

She looked down. "So, Ethan is one of these First-Generation children?"

"Possibly, but something he said at the diner about your grandmother makes me wonder about that." Draco looked at her closely. "But first maybe you can fill us in on his father?"

She looked to her son with his earmuffs that Harry called headphones on, not listening as he bobbed his head to the music only he could hear. "I didn't know who his father was. I was attacked and raped after closing the restaurant one evening. I don't remember any of it, and there was never an arrest. A month later I found out I was pregnant. The attack was one of the worst moments of my life. Having Ethan is one of the best."

Draco felt terrible about bringing it up and exchanged a glance with Harry. "And that's all you know?"

"That's all I'm willing to talk about right now. Now what's this about my grandmother?"

Harry nodded. "Ethan said something at the diner, that your grandmother told him he was special like her mother. At the time I thought he was referring to his mannerisms-"

"He's Autistic."

"Yes, I thought he might be, as I have a niece who's Autistic and he reminds me of her in some ways. She's magical as well, in case you were wondering, and will attend Wizarding School with her siblings. We have a day-student program at our school she might take advantage of instead of boarding, so she has her down time at home and routines. What I'm saying is that there are options, though I'm not as familiar with the American schools."

She sat back a little further as he continued. "Anyway, as I was saying, he mentioned that your grandmother told him he was special like her mum. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but when we were leaving, I reached out and shook his hand. It's not common, but I have a special gift, on top of my magic, where I can feel magic by touch. Ethan's magic nearly knocked me back. He's _ very _ strong, Jennifer."

"Jen, you can call me Jen."

Harry put the pizza into the oven, then turned around. "Jen, have you ever seen Ethan do any magic?"

She looked terribly nervous suddenly but looked to her son and nodded. "Yeah, just once recently. He made something disappear. Scared me terribly, and I didn't know what to do. I just, what do I do with this? How do I help him with something I have no experience with?"

"I'm not sure you have no experience with it, though. Tell me about your great-grandmother and grandmother?"

"I only really know the basics, what Grammy passed down, you know? It's all pretty boring, really. My Great-Grandparents were Thomas and Alice Maloney. They moved to this area in the 1920s but didn't seem to be too affected by the depression as Grammy never told stories of being poor or going hungry. Grammy had two brothers, but never talked about them much. They were very different from her and went away to school when she was a child. She graduated from the local school, though, top of her class. She was always very proud of that.

"She got married in the early 1950s and had my dad and uncle, but my uncle died in Vietnam before I was born. Dad moved to Buffalo and became a high school science teacher, then married my mom and had me. When I sixteen, I was visiting Grammy for the summer here, helping at the diner, and there was a fire back at home. Both of my parents were killed. I came to live here with Grammy, gave her a bit of a hard time for a bit."

She pointed to her tattooed arms. "Got the first of these on my eighteenth birthday and Grammy about freaked out. By the time I was twenty-five, she was going with me to get them. She was the best." She smiled.

Draco spoke up. "She sounds like a lovely woman, but it also sounds like she may have come from a magical family. The Great Depression didn't hit magical families nearly as hard as everyone else. They had magical means of watering their crops, and their money generally wasn't in the same banks as Muggles, er-sorry, non-magicals."

"But Grammy wasn't, I'm sure of that."

"That sometimes happens. Just like non-magical parents having magical children, sometimes the reverse happens. In this country at that time, it would have been highly illegal for her to talk about the magical world to anyone else, including her husband and children."

"But, if she talked to Ethan, and you're talking to me now…"

"Talked to me about what, mom?"

She took a deep breath and looked at her son. "Magic, darling. Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy were talking about magic."

"If Mr. Potter knows about magic, does that mean I don't need to keep my secrets from everyone anymore? Grammy said I had to keep them until you said it was time to talk about it. Is it time?"

She looked taken aback, then gave her son a hug. "I don't like you having secrets, but I understand why you did, lovebug. Yes, please. It's time to talk about it and you can tell your secrets." She looked nervous as she pulled him onto the chair next to her.

"Ok, then. You can talk now, Mr. Potter."

Harry laughed. "Thanks, Ethan." He looked to Jen first. "It's not legal anymore, as long as it's family or a close friend of the magical person." He turned back to Ethan. "Why don't you tell us what you know, first? What did your Grammy tell you?"

"She said that her mom and dad, that's my great-great-grandma and grandpa, were magic, and so were her brothers, but that she didn't mind that she didn't have magic because everyone still loved her very much, and if she had magic, she never would have been able to marry my granddad and that would make her very sad. She told me about them when she saw me wish my toy off the shelf one time, and then one time I spilled my paint and wished it clean. She said my wishes _ was _ my magic, and that it made me special like her mom, but that I had to keep it secret because mom wasn't ready to know about it yet and that non-magic people couldn't know about it."

Jennifer just stared at her son, then reached out and pulled him to her. "I am so proud of you honey. You did just what Grammy said, and you are perfect just the way you are, magic or no magic."

He rolled his eyes. "I know mom. She said you have magic, too, but it's different 'cause you can't do stuff with it, just know stuff."

All eyes flipped to Jennifer, and she laughed. "She was always saying that, but she just meant that I have a good read on people. I can get a feel for what they're feeling when they're talking to me."

"What do you mean by a 'good read'?"

"I can just tell what kinds of things they're feeling, or if they're being honest. Intentions and character, that kind of thing. It's really not a big deal."

"Jen, that can be a kind of magic," Draco explained. "It's called Empathy. Not just have empathy toward another person, but Empathy as a talent. You don't have to do magic to have that ability. If it's what you're describing, you'd be an Empath, feeling the emotions of other people."

Harry nodded. "I did feel something different when I handed you the change yesterday, but I couldn't read it. It wasn't magic like I'm used to, but it was something."

"Oh, that's ridiculous."

"Maybe, but maybe not."

Ethan interrupted. "But now it's Mr. Potter's turn. I want to see if he can do magic."

Harry laughed and took out his wand and showed it to the boy, this time noticing Jen stiffen and stare at the wand. Draco found that interesting, as she was fine when it was just her and Ethan was further away, but Harry continued as though he hadn't noticed. "Okay, Ethan, this is a wand, just like you see on the telly. I have magic without it, but it makes doing my magic easier, and when you're ready to go to magic school, you'll have one, too. For now, I'll cast a spell. Would you like to see?"

"Yeah!"

Harry looked at Draco and grinned, then gave a quick swish and flick. _ "Wingardium Leviosa." _

Draco's chair lifted off the floor about a foot then came back to a rest, and while Draco just stared at Harry, quite unamused, Ethan jumped up and down, hooting in laughter.

Draco took out his wand and pointed it at Harry._ "Colovaria." _ The room burst out laughing, but since Harry couldn't see his own hair at the moment, he played a game at guessing the colour.

Finally he turned to Ethan, laughing along with everyone else. "There are lots of different things that can be done, and you'll learn how to do it when you're old enough." He tapped his head with his wand. _ "Finite Incantatem." _

"When's that? I want to learn now!"

"Wizards and witches, that's what we call magical boys and girls, start Magical school at age eleven in Britain. For now, you go to regular school and learn reading and writing and maths and all the things you'll need to learn Magic later."

"Awesome." Ethan looked very pleased with himself. Harry glanced at Draco and saw a mirroring look of pleasure on his face.

"All right. I think the pizza is about to be ready. Who's hungry?"

"ME!"

* * *

**_ Tuesday, 8 September, 8:15pm _**

Draco walked with Jennifer as Harry ran ahead with the kid and dog down to the dock. "Thank you both. You've given me a lot to think about. I know I'm going to have more questions though. How long are you going to be here? Do you mind if we interrupt your honeymoon again? I feel terrible about doing that, but I don't know who else I can ask."

Draco smirked. "Are you kidding? I've been going a bit loopy out here with just that one for company. It will be most welcome. We _ are _heading up to Montreal for a night, but we'll be back by Thursday evening. Would you like to call us Friday and we can arrange to meet up again?"

She thought it over. "Yeah, I think that would perfect. I just had so much dumped on me tonight that I can't possibly think of all my questions right now. You're good people, Draco Malfoy." She leaned forward and gave him a little hug. "Thank you."

He was slightly flustered but nodded and patted her on the back. "You're most welcome, Jennifer."

She got on the boat with Ethan and the large dog, and John started the motor for their trip back. Draco turned to Harry. "Come on. Let's go for a swim and relax tonight."

"Relax, hmm? I suppose I could make that work."

"Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?"

Then Harry actually had the audacity to slap his ass as they left the room. He never saw _ that _happen on Scooby Doo.


	6. The Investigation

**Chapter 6: The Investigation**

**_Thursday, 10 September, 3:00pm _**

Montreal had been nothing like Harry imagined it would be. It was similar to being back in Europe with a mix of old and new and the widespread use of French. Draco dragged him to what they called Old Montreal, and the architecture of Notre Dame Basilica impressed them both. They had dinner at a little outdoor bistro on Saint-Paul Street, and held hands while browsing the shops in the Quartier Commerçant Magique nearby. Harry picked up some souvenirs for Hermione and Andromeda as thank-yous for keeping the pets while they were gone, and Draco found a Christmas present for his mother.

It was a lovely change from their time in the mountains, but Harry was ready to go back to the solitude of the lodge for a few more days. Their time in the city reminded Harry how much he preferred being away from crowds, and how relaxing their time on the island had been. Perhaps they should talk about selling Grimmauld Place and moving somewhere less urban. He Apparated to work most days anyway, and Draco could work wherever. Maybe before they had kids.

And there was another conversation they needed to have eventually. Well, perhaps stuck in a car on their honeymoon wasn't the best time for that one.

"So Shaggy, any more ideas to solve our mystery?" Draco asked as they entered into Lake Placid.

Harry still couldn't decide if he was more amused at the Scooby Doo references, or annoyed that Draco kept up the Shaggy bit. He was afraid that one would stick, and that was _ not _ okay.

"We just don't know enough. How about we stop in to see the Aurors while we're in town here? We can see if there's any other information they can release now, and if nothing else, we can see if we can get some additional information for Jen. Maybe there's a magical family with young children nearby that we can set her up with."

"It might be best if we stay quiet about Jen a bit longer, at least not mention any specifics, but we can stop in if you like. I'm curious to see if you were right about Jackson's dumb Auror act."

"That works for me."

* * *

**_ Thursday, 10 September, 3:00pm _**

"Mr. Whitestone, I appreciate your concern, but investigations do not always go as fast as we'd like. If you had just let us perform the autopsy-"

David nearly released an audible sigh when Senko mentioned that. She was good, but she was still young and sometimes her inexperience showed. She physically stepped back at the anger directed her way.

"Auror Senko, that is not under discussion. If you can't find the answers with the available information, then I will find someone who will, is that understood?"

She kept her back straight and looked him right in the eye. Good woman. "Yes, sir. We have interviewed every known local magical who could be capable of this deed over the last week and we have no further leads on that front. We do not know who he was with nor who killed him." She took a deep breath. "However, we do have a lead on his missing item. We've found several witnesses near Lower Saranac Lake, but we've eliminated his presence at any pawn shops or resale stores, nor was he seen in any other public venues. The witnesses we _ have _ found saw what they think was him walking down a residential street, and we have confirmation from a nearby security camera. If he was looking for an item, it may have been at a private residence or hidden somewhere that we may never find."

"I'm not concerned about this missing object, though I understand its importance in finding the killer. Are you investigating the private residences near where he was seen?"

David interrupted. "Of course, Mr. Whitestone. We interviewed each of them earlier today, and tomorrow will be following up with two others that were unavailable. We will find where he went if at all possible."

There was a loud knock at the door, and all heads turned toward the Chief as he entered the room. "Excuse me, everyone. Jackson, Senko, you have a couple visitors out here who'd like to speak to you in regard to your current case."

A bit of hope began to flicker inside David. Perhaps they'd catch a break. "Names?"

Butch smirked. "I didn't ask, but you might want to talk to them." He was up to something. He _ always _ asked names.

Whitestone nodded. "I'll let you get back to the case, Aurors. I expect to receive another update on Monday. Thank you for your time."

David and Senko followed Whitestone to the front, then stopped when he saw who was at the counter, and now Butch's statement made sense as there was no need to ask the name of the man waiting. However, it was not Potter whom Whitestone had stopped to speak with, but his husband. Interesting. He discreetly approached to get within hearing distance.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mr. Whitestone."

"Stephen, please, Draco. I've known your family since you were a child. Thank you for your condolences, though I am aware I should offer you similar. I may not have always agreed with your father and grandfather's politics, but they were great patrons of the medical arts."

"Thank you, sir."

"So, what are you doing here in New York, Draco? My wife told me you were recently married." He looked to Potter questioningly.

"Yes, last week, actually. Harry, this is Stephen Whitestone, my family and his have contributed to some of the same charities over the years. Stephen, this is my husband, Harry Potter."

David watched Potter to see what kind of reaction he might have, but Potter just nodded and smiled and didn't even flinch when Whitestone's eyes flicked to his forehead. Nearly thirty years must make one immune to such things, he supposed.

"Auror Potter, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Of course, I've read much about you over the years. Are you here consulting on a case?"

"Not exactly, though as we are in the area, we were questioned in your son's case." Potter flashed a smile at David. "As a matter of routine, of course."

Whitestone turned his head to David as well. "You didn't mention this, Auror Jackson."

"It wasn't relevant, sir, as they are clearly not suspects and Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy do deserve their privacy."

Potter sent him a look of respect and approval and he wanted to puff in pleasure, which was stupid, as Potter was just a person. But evidently a person he wanted to impress?

"Thank you, Auror," Potter said. "Mr. Whitestone, we are in fact on our honeymoon, and I wouldn't dream of interrupting the good Aurors' investigation. I just had a few questions for them about the local magicals."

"But would you consult if I requested it? Your reputation is stellar, and additional eyes on the case, even cursory, may speed the process." He paused, then considered. "I would compensate you for your time, of course."

Potter glanced at his husband who leaned forward and whispered something in his ear, then he nodded. "That would not be necessary, Mr. Whitestone. If the Aurors have no objections, I would not mind giving an opinion on gathered evidence, but I'd like to include my husband in the conversation, as you know, _ honeymoon _ and all." He grinned.

Whitestone looked at David, who honestly would like a fresh pair of eyes on the case. He was curious what Potter would see, as well. He glanced at Senko, who shrugged. "That would be acceptable, and I'd be happy to answer those questions you had as well, Mr. Potter. Please, come back to my office."

"I'll let you all get to it then. Thank you, Mr. Potter. Your assistance is very much appreciated." Whitestone nodded to them all, then swept out the door.

Potter turned back to Jackson and smiled. "I truly don't want to step on your toes."

"Not at all, Potter. Come on, let's go back and talk. Perhaps we could start with your questions, and then we'll go from there."

Potter followed him with his arm tucked through his husband's and then into his own pocket. "Absolutely, but please feel free to call me Harry. Potter sounds like I'm being reprimanded by my Potions instructor." Malfoy snorted.

"All right Harry. You can call me David or Jackson, either is fine. I have no bad potions instructor memories to escape." He glanced at Draco. "And Draco or Malfoy?"

"Either works for me. Our potions instructor liked _ me _." He smirked.

Senko just looked chidingly at them both. "Senko is fine for me, please. I prefer to keep my first name for my private life."

Harry smiled. "I completely understand. Well, David, Senko, why we're here. I have to admit that our conversation about your little mystery here had our curiosity peaked, and we've been discreetly having conversations with people throughout the last week. Not really asking questions, as that's not our place, but just encouraging people to talk to the silly British tourists."

David considered, and could see the angle Harry had been playing. He probably would have done something similar in his shoes. "All right. Did you hear anything?"

"Unfortunately not, which if it were a completely mundane crime would be interesting. People talk, right? But since I'm talking with Muggles-er, sorry, No-Majes, they might not be watching in the same places or paying attention to the same things. Which led me to wondering about what kind of magical population you had around here?" He paused and looked at Malfoy, then seemed to choose his words. "And it's unrelated, really, but I do think I bumped into one of your First-Gen children along the way, and we were thinking it might be nice to set the family up with a magical family to talk to. I figured I'd stop and ask about the locals wizarding families and kill two birds with one stone, no?"

"We don't have that large of a magical population in these parts, but those we do have settled here are mostly generational. I can't remember the last time we had a new magical family move into the area. Most live out in the mountains where they have privacy more easily. It's a nice idea to match up a First-Gen, but really, it's not necessary."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" Harry looked skeptical.

"Well, it's not like it really affects the family, right? Once they turn ten, they'll go to Ilvermorny, as that school has the largest First-Gen population and functions year round, allowing First-Gens to stay summers in order to take extra classes, catching up on things they might have missed not growing up in magical families. We've found it works best that way, and they don't have the opportunity to accidentally break the Statute of Secrecy. They still sometimes come home periodically for the winter holiday, and two weeks in summer, but even that is skipped by many."

He had been looking for a drink in his cold box while he talked, so belatedly realized that he hadn't been watching Potter's reaction. This appeared to have been a mistake, as he started to sense a crackling of magic in the air. A glance at Potter's face showed barely controlled rage. Draco reached up and put his hand on his husband's shoulder. The two appeared to exchange a silent conversation, and Potter started to calm down, but the smell of ozone remained in the air. David was glad that he had a good poker face, because his stomach was suddenly full of nerves. He had no idea what he had said to cause that, but he suddenly realized why Potter was considered powerful. The non-threatening sweet guy thing was a great cover, because holy shit, he could be scary.

Finally, Potter spoke with narrowed eyes. "So, let me get this straight. It's common in America to take a ten-year-old child away from his or her parents and family, and basically just consume them into magical society without a look back?"

Senko shot David a look that he clearly read as "shut the fuck up", so he did and let her speak. "I understand how that sounds, Mr. Potter. But it really is not as bad as it seems. We have come a long way since the repeal of Rappaport's Law back in the sixties, but we still have some strides to make. The current system works best for a good number of our children. We have a large conservative religious No-Maj population, and the First-Gen children entering our schools are often thankful for the escape from their family's persecution. Children who want to remain in contact with their families can do that by phone and letters, but I agree, a better system is probably called for. Unfortunately, I don't see that changing anytime soon in our current political climate. I know you understand how hard bringing about change can be."

Potter seemed to be thinking about it for a few moments, then nodded. "I do. I don't like it, though." He sighed. "I think we'd best move on. I do apologize for my outburst. I haven't done that in ages. I must be tired."

Draco seemed to be keeping a close eye on him, then addressed David. "So, Stephen suggested you fill us in on the rest of the details. What else can you tell us?"

Keeping an eye on Potter, for he just couldn't think of him as Harry right now, David decided to thankfully accept the change of subject. "The only lead we have on Whitestone's last movements is in a strictly non-magical residential area, so that doesn't fit with any of the current magical population."

"Interesting. Anything else?" Draco seemed to be in charge now, as Potter sat quietly listening.

"Not a lot. The family requests we keep this part quiet, but evidently Whitestone told his mother that he was coming to the area looking for something that he had left behind at some point in the past, and that he'd stash it with her if he found it. We've checked all the likely, and some unlikely locations, but there's nothing. No lead of what he might have been looking for."

"Were there any magical spikes in that residential area at the timeframe in question?" Potter finally spoke up again.

"Spikes?"

"Yes, any pockets of high magical residue in an area where magic is not usually practiced should show while you're investigating. It's something I personally have worked with, developing a spell to track. It's nearly useless in magical areas, as there's so much magic anyway that it clouds the results. But when dealing with Muggle areas, it can show you where strong magic was practised. It won't detect something silly like a Lumos or glamour or household spell, but it should detect an intense curse such as the Cruciatus, and for sure an AK."

"Would it show what the spell was?"

"No, so it's not admissible in court, but it should help you track your victim's movements if he was performing magic, or had it performed upon him, I would think."

Senko was sitting up and taking notes. "Can you show us how to perform and read this?"

"Sure, absolutely. Here, the wand movement is like this." David watched closely while Harry made an intricate pattern. You'll want to give it medium power, about like a summoning spell. The incantation is _ Ostende Mihi Faciem Magicae." _

David practiced the incantation, then put them together. Suddenly, the room exploded with clouds of colored smoke that it appeared only he could see. The colors didn't seem to coordinate to anything specific, as he noticed his own summoning spell from earlier was bright orange, while that spell had no color.

"This is great, Harry. Thank you. How far away will it show you?"

"About a hundred yards, but you have to be close enough to see it. I've found it shows residue from the last month or so. I've not measured it exactly, but used it few months back to track a missing person that had been gone about three weeks, and was able to see magic from before she had disappeared."

"That's amazing. I can't believe I haven't heard about this."

Harry shrugged. "Draco and Hermione have been trying to get me to write up an article on it and present it at some conference or other, but that's not really my thing. Go ahead and pass it on. The more people it helps, the better."

David just stared at him. This guy was the oddest mix of power, strength, humor, and humility. He glanced to Draco who was watching him closely, appearing to be holding in a laugh. Evidently, he wasn't the first to have this reaction to Harry Potter.

Senko rose. "Well, thank you gentlemen. How long are you going to be in the area?"

"Through Tuesday, then on to New York City. We have tickets Wednesday night for _ Wicked _."

"We do?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we do. I also got you tickets for _ In the Heights _ later in the week as requested, don't worry."

Harry got a look in his eye that reminded David suddenly why these men were in New York in the first place, and he nearly blushed at the heat of the look.

"Well, thank you both. We'll let you both get on out of here. Enjoy the rest of your vacation if we don't see you. Bye!" He practically pushed them through the door.

Senko burst out laughing and sat down at her desk. "They weren't going to screw right here, you know."

"Are you so sure of that?"

"No, actually, I'm not, but can't say I wouldn't have minded watching."

"Oh, Merlin's Beard. You pervert. Come on, let's go try this spell around the office so we have a good feel for it, then we can give it a whirl tomorrow when we go back out."

* * *

**_ Thursday, 10 September, 3:45pm _**

"You got me tickets to _ In the Heights _ . You are _ so _ getting lucky as soon as we get back to the island."

"Oh? Why wait? Pull over into that field up there and I'll show you lucky."

"Fuck, yes."

* * *

**_ Thursday, 10 September, 4:05pm _**

Harry pulled back onto the road, flushed and relaxed. "Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's recoup a bit."

"Which part? The part where we didn't get any other information that would help solve this murder, or the part where you about blew up an Auror station because of how they treat Muggleborn children here?"

"Either. Both. And I didn't_ almost blow-up _ anything. I was just upset." He knew his magic got out a little, but it wasn't _ that _ bad. Draco always exaggerated.

"Hah. Sure, Potter. Did you notice how you almost made Jackson wet himself? I won't lie and say that didn't get me hot, but since you already took care of that, let's talk about the case. What do you think Whitestone was looking for?"

"My bet is on something valuable that he thinks is his, but he doesn't legitimately have a claim to. Otherwise, why would he have to stash it with his mother? Also, why didn't he know it was here to begin with?"

"Maybe someone moved it here? Or he thinks it's something he's owed? Oh, wait, I know. Let's set a trap!"

Harry just glared at Draco. "A trap. With no suspect and no object the suspect wants."

Draco smiled, much too pleased with himself. "It's what Fred Jones would do."

"Oh Merlin, please let that go."

"Not a chance, Shaggy."

They drove on for a while in silence, Harry both enjoying the drive and watching Draco grip the panic handle on each curve. What were they going to tell Jen? Harry honestly hadn't really thought about how much different it might be for American First-Gen kids than it was for British Muggleborns. Hermione probably would scold him for that and could likely give a lecture. Maybe they should call Hermione. She'd likely have some recommendations.

Draco broke the silence. "So, what do we tell Jennifer when she calls tomorrow?"

"I was just wondering the same thing. I want to talk to Hermione. Between her background, and her current knowledge of both the law and British education system, I think she's uniquely qualified to help."

"Plus, she knows everything." Draco grinned.

"Plus, she knows everything, yes."

"Do you think the floo is set up for international conversations?"

"Maybe, but there's a phone. Hermione has one to talk with her parents. I have the number, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Hmmm… I suppose that works. Movie tonight? John said we have access to all the new releases on satellite in that fancy movie room. I feel like a comedy."

"Sounds good. Who would have thought fifteen years ago that Draco Malfoy would be riding in a Muggle vehicle going back to watch a Muggle film via satellite? Who would have thought he'd even know what that sentence meant? Wow." Harry grinned.

"Laugh it up. And it's Draco MalPot to you, mister."

"What do you say we just leave it at Malfoy and Potter for now, and worry about any combinations later?"

"Good choice."


	7. The Secret

**Chapter 7: The Secret**

**_Thursday, 10 September, 4:50pm EDT / 9:50pm BST (London) _**

"Hello?"

"Hey gorgeous. Want to run off with me and ditch that loser you married?"

"Mmm, Draco, love. That would never work because you're bent and I prefer not to suffer the wrath of my best friend, with whom you are currently on your _honeymoon _. Now why the hell are you on the phone with me at…" Hermione sounded as though she were checking something, "five o'clock in the evening, instead of shagging that husband of yours silly."

"We do spend _some _time on our holiday _not _naked, you know."

"Shame. So, where is he?"

"Naked. In the shower, actually, but I pushed him into the lake, so I suppose he earned it."

"And you're not with him because…"

"Because I'm on the phone with you, of course."

"Well, not that it's not nice to hear your voice, but what's going on? The cat is fine, if that's what you're after. The kids have tried to name her, you know."

"She has a name. It's Cat, and if it's good enough for Holly Golightly, it's good enough for me."

"Holly Golightly was a criminal and a call-girl, but that's beside the point. I need to go to bed soon, so I repeat. What do you need, darling?"

"What do you know about American Muggleborns?"

"They call them First-Gens, actually."

"Yes, them."

"I know quite a bit actually. We did a good deal of research on other countries' educational practices before we made the current changes for Hogwarts."

"Perfect. We met a Mug-...sorry. We met a First-Gen and his single mother the other day. Super sweet kid and just a little bit different, which you know Harry, that immediately intrigued him. We really liked them both, and Harry and I talked it through and decided that given the kid's age and magical strength, we'd feel the mother out a bit about magic and maybe explain, if she seemed ready. We're glad we did, as her son had an episode of accidental magic recently and it really scared her. She had some questions and we answered them the best we could, but we don't have a lot of experience with parents of First-Gens.

"Okay…"

"So today we were talking to some Aurors-"

"Aurors!" Hermione shrieked, making him pull the phone from his head.

"Calm down, no one is in trouble," he drawled. "Well, no one we know. Anyway, we got to talking and they explained the way they handle the First-Gens here as children, and Harry-"

"Nearly blew up the office?"

"You know him too well."

"She had planned on calling us tomorrow with some more questions, but now we don't know what to tell her? How do we tell her that they are basically going to be removing her only child from her care in less than two years, simply because she's not magical? Which actually isn't entirely true, because I think she's an Empath, but obviously they won't consider that as the same."

"And you want to know what to tell her?"

"Yes, please? I'm rubbish at this sort of thing, and Harry's feeling so guilty about it that he just wanted to ask you."

"Draco?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"It's not hard. You tell her the truth. You explain what you learned, and you explain what her options are. She's not stuck in The States, you know. She could relocate to Britain, Canada, or even Australia, all English-speaking countries that have programs allowing Muggle parents much more access to their magical children. She has options, and by you two talking with her early, she now has time to explore those options."

"Hmmm…"

"What you are doing is sweet. That little boy must have really gotten to you both. But please tell me you're still having a honeymoon."

He laughed. "Of course, we're still having a honeymoon; we just got back from Montreal, actually. Lovely city. It's just this little family, and it's just the two of them. I guess they both got to us, actually. She reminded me of my own mother in a way. I mean, she's nothing like Mother, but…"

"I get it, love. Just tell her the truth and go from there. Now go on and join that man of yours in the shower or something. I need sleep. Let me know how the conversation turns out, though, okay?"

"Of course. Good night, Granger. Thanks."

"G'night, Malfoy. You're welcome.

* * *

**_Thursday, 10 September, 6:55pm _**

"Harry? It's Jen. I'm scared. Would you mind if I brought Ethan and the dog out to talk with you tonight? I think there's someone watching my house, and I can't stay here."

Harry looked at the phone in surprise. "Watching you? Why do you say that?"

"Can I explain more when I come? I've got Ethan and the dog in the car, and I packed an overnight bag. I can go to a hotel if I have to, but I think you might be able to help." She paused and sounded hesitant. "I think they may be magical."

"Jen, you are welcome to come out; you know we have plenty of room. Did you bring anything else with you? An overnight bag, dog food, anything?"

"Actually, I did. I was ready if we had to go. We'll be to the dock in about fifteen minutes. Can you meet me?"

"Of course. I'll get Draco and we'll meet you there."

"Thank you, Harry. I'm just really scared and didn't know who else to call."

"We'll be there. Just drive safely, okay?"

Harry hung up the phone, puzzled at what could be going on. "Draco? Movie plans are on hold. Jen and Ethan are on their way. She's really upset and thinks someone magical is watching her."

"What the hell?"

"Yeah, I know. Come on. I told her we'd meet her at the dock."

They took the cart to the Apparition point, then Apparated to the docks. "We'll have to sidealong them back. You take Jen, and I'll take Ethan and the dog."

"All right." Draco looked thoughtful. "This is really strange, Harry. She didn't even know about magic a few days ago. Why would someone magical be watching her?"

"No idea. I'm starting to wonder if maybe we're missing something here. She said she'd fill us in when she came, so hopefully she has some of the answers."

An old blue sedan pulled into the lot, and Harry could see the dog's droopy face hanging from the window. They walked over to the car, and Jen got out as soon as it came to a stop. She was visibly frightened but appeared to be trying to hold it together for Ethan, who seemed excited at another trip to the island. The dog, however, would not leave her side.

"Come on. We'll talk on the island. Where are your things?"

She slung on her own backpack and helped Ethan into his. "We've got them. Is there someplace I can put my car that no one will see it?"

Harry had another moment of surprise at that. She was that scared. Interesting.

"Yeah, the island has a garage over there." He pointed back the way he and Draco had just come. "Why don't you move the car and we'll meet you over there." It was the location of the Apparition point anyway. They walked over as she parked the car, then Harry thought for a moment and as they closed the door behind it, he took out his wand, adding a disillusionment spell to the vehicle. Ethan gasped and clapped, and Jen just looked on in shock.

"Thanks, Harry; that's amazing." She looked around nervously. "Okay, can we go?"

"Absolutely. We're going to do something called Apparate. It feels worse when you're not the one doing it, so prepare for a bit of dizziness. It doesn't hurt, but it's not exactly pleasant. I was going to send you with Draco while I took Ethan and the dog, but seeing as how the dog won't leave your side… Ethan, please take Draco's hand. You're going on an adventure and we'll see you on the island in a moment, okay?" Ethan nodded eagerly, and Draco took his hand and popped out.

"Ready Jen?" He leaned over and put his arm around the dog's chest, then grabbed Jen's arm. "Let's go."

* * *

**_Thursday, 10 September, 7:30pm _**

"Mr. Malfoy, why didn't we just pop up to the lodge? Why did we have to ride the cart? Why did it feel like my stomach was on the outside?"

Draco just looked at the kid and laughed, then ruffled his hair and directed him to the kitchen. "Just a moment, Ethan. It's impolite to ask too many questions at once. You have to let someone answer each before you give another. First, my question for you. Did you guys eat dinner?" He heard Jennifer coming in behind them with Harry.

She spoke up. "We had McDonald's on our way here. He should be good."

"Perfect. Now, Ethan, would you like some ice cream while I answer your questions, and then the adults can talk for a bit?"

"Ice cream! Yes! I want chocolate, please."

"Coming right up, young man. Now, first question. We didn't _pop _to the lodge because there are things called magical wards on the island." He handed him the ice cream and the boy grabbed the spoon as though he was ravenous. "They are kind of like spells that prevent people without permission from entering, but they also prevent people from _popping _all over the island. It's security and keeps us safe. Even if someone were coming here uninvited, they couldn't just pop onto the island. They'd have to go to where we did, then make their way up here. We'd know they were coming by little alarms that would tell us. Okay?"

"Yeah, that's cool. Are there security cameras?"

Draco looked at Harry. He had no idea. Harry answered, thankfully. "Actually, yes. They feed security images around the island to the caretaker John, who lives in a cottage here on the island. If there's anything to worry about, he'd get the alarm and lock things down, making us more secure. You are safe here, buddy."

Draco nodded. "So that's also your second answer. We rode the cart because we didn't want to make you walk with your bags and dog, since we couldn't _pop _directly here. Now, for your stomach, I don't know the exact reason why your stomach felt like that, but I would think it's probably because your stomach is the center of mass of your body, and moving your entire body from one location to another puts extra stress on the matter in your body, which causes pressure on your center of mass."

The room just looked at him. "What?"

Harry grinned, and Ethan nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks! This was good ice cream. Thanks, Mr. Malfoy. Can I play on my iPad now, mom?"

Jennifer nodded and handed him a napkin for his face. "Go ahead over on the couch and play. Put your headphones on, please, so we can talk."

"Sure," and he was off to the sofa.

Draco looked at her and nodded to the ice cream as though it were a question. She laughed. "Yes, please. Chocolate always helps, right?"

"That's what I am always telling Harry, but will he listen?"

Harry glared playfully. "Hey, I buy you chocolate every time you're mad at me, so clearly I _do _listen." He sat down next to Jennifer. "Now, Jen, I think we need to understand what's going on. I can't keep you safe if I don't know what's happening."

"Okay, right. I think I need to back up to the conversation the other night. Remember when I told you about my attack years ago?"

"Of course. I can't imagine what you went through. I'm so sorry."

"Yes, well, I didn't tell you the weird part of it, and it kind of ties into something that happened last week, and Ethan doing magic in front of me."

She took a deep breath, and Draco thought she looked like she was bracing herself for something overly difficult. Given the topic, he realized, she really was.

"Okay. I told you the other day that I was attacked and raped and got pregnant. I didn't tell the specifics because it's hard, and because I've never been able to make much sense of it." She took a bite of her ice cream and they just waited for her to be ready to continue.

"I told you I was attacked one afternoon while closing up the diner. I was alone, and someone must have come in. I don't remember _any _of what happened, only being in the hospital later and being told that a few people had heard me screaming from outside the building. The weird part is the people who brought me to the emergency room didn't even remember doing it when I asked them later; they just seemed confused at my questions, but I was clearly covered in bruises and had been raped, and the hospital staff remembered them bringing me in. The hospital social worker later told me they did a rape kit and I was interviewed by the police, but there was no record of it when I went looking. The police report just read as though I was roughed up; there were no leads and no further details, so it was left at that.

"I honestly thought I was losing my mind, except I found out a month later I was pregnant. I hadn't been seeing anyone, so I knew it had to have been from that night. Grammy and I got through it, and I have Ethan. Since then, I've made sure to protect myself; we changed our hours so we close before dark, we made rules that no one is ever in the restaurant alone, and I learned some self-defense. I also took some other protective measures at home; we have an alarm system on the house, and though I refuse to keep a gun around the house with a small child, I did get a taser and I learned how to use it."

Harry looked to Draco and murmured, "A taser is a kind of stun-gun. It stuns the person so you can escape."

She nodded, then looked Draco in the eye and he could see the confusion. "But none of what happened has ever made sense to me. Until maybe now."

Draco was afraid he was beginning to understand her thought process but kept quiet. He was dreading what was coming.

"Can magic make people forget things? Like, could someone go in and take memories from people? You guys made it sound like it was this wonderful talent, but can it be used to do bad things?" She looked from Harry to Draco, and he tried not to think back to all the bad things he'd seen magic do.

Harry spoke softly, "Yes, it can be used to do evil. Like any society, there are good and bad people. That's why I have a job; I work to catch the ones who hurt others with magic. To answer your question, it can indeed be used to make people forget. It's called Obliviating. It can wipe memories of events, and there are charms that can be used to fill in the blank spot with a memory of something else having happened. If that's what you encountered, it's possible the person who attacked you was magical and either he, or someone he was connected to, Obliviated you and your rescuers, and maybe even adjusted the police reports and destroyed the rape kit. Jen, I'm so sorry you went through this; it must have made the attack even worse to know it happened but not be able to remember, and not to have any closure."

"It was a long time ago, and honestly, I'd mostly put it behind me." She hesitated, then looked to steel herself and went on. "And then last week, I think he came back."

"What?!" Draco exclaimed, and Harry just shot him a look telling him to shut up. Right. Let her talk.

"Someone just walked in my front door. I have no idea how he got there and got past the dog, nor how he entered the house when it was completely locked with the alarms set. The strangest part of it all, though, is that I couldn't see him. I knew he was there; I could just feel the malice and cruelty pushing at me. There was obviously a presence, and it was someone who didn't mean well, but I couldn't see him. I was terrified. Every time I tried to focus on him, my eyes seemed to move to other items in the room. I could only focus on the feelings. I reached into my bag and grabbed my taser but still couldn't rest my eyes on him. And then he spoke, and it was like this voice floating from this place I couldn't quite see. I turned my head slightly and from my peripheral vision, I was able to make out a form pointing something at me."

Draco managed to maintain his silence this time, but sent a look to Harry to let him see his apprehension.

"He started asking about Ethan and told me that he remembered me and wasn't I the smart one getting pregnant and raising him a son just stocked full of magic. He actually congratulated me!" She snarled. "That man, that _bastard, _told me that he was just going to take him off my hands now and go raise him as a proper wizard and I needn't worry my little head about him anymore, that he would make me forget, as though he were doing me a fucking favour!" She looked at Harry. "And he could do that, couldn't he have? Because that's what he did before."

Harry nodded, eyes sad.

She jumped up and began to pace angrily but kept a constant eye on her son still sitting happily across the room, eating crackers. "He was going to take my baby from me, and I wouldn't be able to stop him, so I lifted my taser and I shot it at him. The wires attached to something and I could tell something was happening, but he just kept talking and calling me a stupid animal. I turned it up to high and I heard him fall and I could finally see him. I couldn't bring myself to look at his face, but I could see him lying there.

"I let go of the trigger and pulled back the wires, waiting to see if he'd get back up. When it was clear that he was out, I walked over and kicked the stick out of his hands, then just sat down and cried for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to do. I didn't trust anyone, not even the police, after what had happened the last time. Ethan must have been watching from the stairs, and he came and sat down next to me and just hugged me while I cried." A tear fell from her eye, and she stopped and looked at Draco. "He's just the sweetest boy. He told me not to worry and he'd make him go away, and then the body just disappeared. I screamed, and Ethan just looked at me and said, 'I'm sorry mommy. Grammy said I should keep the magic a secret until I was older. Am I in trouble?'"

"I didn't know what to do. I just sat there holding him; then Ethan asked if it was bath time and I went about our evening, but I didn't put the taser down for two days, and I packed some escape bags just in case. You know, clothes, toothbrushes, stuff we'd need if we had to run. After a couple days, I finally started to relax, then you guys came along and started talking about magic and some things finally started to click into place.

"I was considering asking you about it tomorrow, actually, but this afternoon there were some people going around our neighborhood asking questions about a man that could match that bastard's description. My neighbor came into the diner and told me all about it, and I panicked. I sent Nate to the house for the dog and asked him to grab some bags I had thrown together after that first night, just in case." She got a fierce expression. "I will not let _anyone _take my son."

"Jennifer," Harry asked, setting to know the answer before he asked it. "When did this happen?"

"Thursday evening, last week."

The silence in the room was suddenly interrupted by a childish giggle from the sofa, and everyone looked at the innocent boy watching… Draco peeked over… silly cat videos, evidently. How could anyone want to hurt this child, taking him away from the only family he's ever known? He grew up around evil and callousness, and he knew it existed. Harry fought it every day, but it had been years since it had touched Draco so personally. He had nearly forgotten the fear for someone you cared about, because he did care about this little boy, he realised.

Harry finally spoke up. For someone who never really had a plan, he always seemed to know what to do next. "Jen, thank you for sharing all of this with us. I need to think this through and put some pieces of your puzzle together. You are more than welcome to stay here with us tonight, and tomorrow, we'll devise a plan to either solve your problem, or get you someplace long term that you can feel safe." He looked her in the eyes, intensely serious. "Most importantly, you are not alone."

"I like the idea of the safety measures staying here, but you two are on your honeymoon. We really shouldn't be interrupting any more than we already have. I feel terrible, I just didn't know who else to trust."

"Nonsense," Draco interrupted. "I was terribly bored with only this one to talk to everyday out here in our solitude. Having you stay with us a night or two will be absolutely fine. We're off to New York City on Tuesday for another week as it is, so we'll still have plenty of honeymoon time left to us. Maybe Ethan can show me how to play some of those games I saw in the game room?"

Harry grinned at his husband. "That sounds perfect. Jen, will you be keeping him home from school tomorrow?"

"Oh God. School. Yeah, I hadn't even gotten that far in my head. I'll call him out sick for a day." She got up and started to put Ethan's things back into his bag. "Thank you, Harry, Draco. Just, thank you."

Draco got up to help her. "It's our pleasure, Jennifer. Come on, I'm assuming you want to share a room tonight with Ethan?" She nodded. "Twin beds, or one large one? We have both."

* * *

**_Thursday, 10 September, 11:30pm _**

Draco sat on the bed while Harry lay lounging on the chair, thinking out loud. "So, she hit him with a stun gun and he passed out, then the kid made him disappear. I think the important piece here is the timing, Draco. This was last Thursday evening."

"So?"

"Last Thursday, the night Whitestone appeared dead on a mountain."

"Yes, Crucioed and AK'd. Not stunned."

"We need to know how a taser works. It's not like a stunning spell. I think it uses electrical current or something."

"And when she hit him with that, you're thinking it might mimic a Cruciatus?"

"That's what I'm wondering, yes. I need to talk to someone who has more familiarity with them."

Draco looked at him. "Hermione?"

"Yeah, she's done a lot of research on Muggle weapons for the DMLE, so she might know if that's possible. What time is it now?"

Draco looked at his watch. "Half past eleven o'clock. You can't call Hermione now anyway, it's not even six in the morning there. Let's see what we can find out on our own using Goggle, then we'll call in an hour or so."

"GOO-gle, Draco. You've been using it on my computer for two years and you still can't remember?"

Of course, he remembered, but it drove Harry crazy, so he continued to mess it up on purpose. One of life's little pleasures. He smiled innocently, but figured Harry was on to him. "Yes, GOO-gle."

"Fine, but you can call and I'm going to bed soon."

"Now that that's straightened out, let's see what we can find out on Goggle."

* * *

**_Friday, 11 September, 1:30am EDT/ 6:30am BST (London)_**

"Wow, two days in a row, Draco? I feel special."

"You are special, you know that."

"Yes, of course I know that. So, did you already talk to that friend you made? The mother of the First-Gen? How'd that go?"

"Actually, we talked to her, but we never got to what we had planned. It may be a moot point now anyway, as there's another situation taking precedent."

"Oh, the plot thickens. Okay, go on."

"We need information. We did some googling and found a few facts, but were hoping you'd know, or could talk to someone who did. We were wondering about the effects of a taser on a person and if they would mimic the effects of the Cruciatus curse."

"Interesting. Well, they both have an effect on the nervous system, that's for sure, though I believe the taser is going to travel primarily through the somatic nervous system. This is still dangerous, especially if it travels close to the heart or the central nervous system, since both are extremely dependent on precise electrical stimulation to do their physiological functions. I'll have to check into it a bit more, but I think the answer will be yes, if it were to hit closely to the central nervous system and at a high enough voltage, it could appear similar to a Cruciatus in health scanning spells after the fact. The victim would know the difference, though, as I don't think the actual pain would be remotely the same."

"And if the victim were deceased?"

"The autopsy would probably show that it was not Cruciatus."

"And if there were no autopsy?"

"What the hell, Draco? Who would refuse an autopsy in these circumstances?"

"Family hoping to cover up heavy potions abuse, I would assume."

"Well, depending on the potions being abused, that could even increase the effects I mentioned, and if it's long term abuse, the heart would be weakened which could possibly cause death when stressed. So yes, this would make it less questionable and more likely for this type of outcome. Still, an autopsy would show the differentiation in nerve damage."

"Would you be able to put some information together and get it to us in the next day or so? It could be really important."

"Absolutely. Where should I send it?"

"I'm not sure yet. Email it to Harry for now, but prepare an official version for the Aurors here and we'll let you know where to send that when we're ready."

"Got it." He could hear her writing it down. "And by the way, I'm glad you're both able to help someone, but aren't you supposed to be off shagging on a mountain somewhere, not solving crimes?"

"We tried that, but it turns out I need more stimulation." He grinned. "Looks like we've got another mystery on our hands."

Hermione laughed so loudly he had to move his ear from the phone. "Jeepers, Hermione!"

"Oh my god, did you just quote Scooby Doo? Twice?"

"Yeah, but don't call Harry Shaggy. He's a bit sour about the reference."

She laughed even louder, and he thought he might have heard a snort. "This is great. All right, I have to get to work. I'll send you what I can, and keep me posted."

"Thanks, beautiful. We owe you one."

"Just take care of your man, and we'll be good. Now get to sleep."

"Good night."


	8. The Planning

**A/N: Another warning: Sex scene ahead in this chapter. Just a heads up. If you prefer to skip it when it starts, just jump to the next time entry breakpoint.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Planning**

**_Friday, September 11, 7:05am _**

Harry woke on the ridiculously large sofa in the master's sitting room with a pillow tucked under his head and a blanket covering him. He smiled, then saw the scribbled note on the table next to him.

_Harry, _

_I didn't want to wake you. I spoke with Hermione and got the information we needed. She said she'd email you the documentation, and can put together an official version for the Aurors if we want it. It's pretty much as we thought. It's already after two, so please let me sleep while you do your morning workout. I'm exhausted, you beast. _

_Love, Draco _

Well, there it was. He still had no idea of how they might be connected to Whitestone, but he had a much better idea of what had happened. He had hoped to have some answers for Jen by breakfast, and it looked like that might be the case. He wasn't looking forward to telling her what happened to Whitestone, though. No one would be okay hearing that they had killed someone.

Deciding on laps for the day, he made his way down to the indoor pool, then remembered belatedly that he'd be unable to swim naked since they had guests. A quick of transfiguration of his pyjamas had him ready, then he began. Stroke, breathe. Stroke, breathe. The slow and even movements cleared his mind of outside stimuli and let him think. He replayed the story of Jennifer Simmons's history together with the facts he and Draco had been gathering from the Aurors through what they had thought was a separate case.

Grandmother was a Squib, and Jen's probably an Empath with no other magic. Moved in with grandmother as a teenager, attacked and raped at the restaurant about nine years ago. That's put her at what, twenty-three at the time? So young. She gets pregnant and has this amazing little boy, but everyone involved, including her, was seemingly Obliviated and evidence is destroyed. Obviously, they had missed a couple people at the hospital, but still, no investigation and no rape kit. Friends and family in high places.

Stroke, breathe. Stroke, breathe. Rapist returns looking for something of value. _Merlin _, he came back for the kid. He was going to just take that child and stash him with his parents, like a wad of cash or something. _Motherfucker! _Stroke, breathe. Bastard tracks Jennifer to her house and apparently uses some kind of _Notice Me Not _spell on himself, but she's an Empath and it gets distorted. She can sense him. He rants and promises to take the kid, secure in the fact that she can't stop him. Stroke, breathe. But she _can _"see" him by his vile emotions, so she stuns him. Kid comes in and banishes him, evidently to the mountain, and neither realize that the force of the stun had stopped his potion-weakened heart..

Stroke, breathe. Stroke, breathe. Stroke, breathe.

Replaying the facts through his head, he finished his swim and pulled himself out of the pool. They needed a plan. This information had repercussions that they needed to be prepared for. They needed to solve the case without letting Jen get into trouble, and they needed to get her established someplace where she they could continue to be a family. Someplace where she wouldn't lose her son to a magical society hardly supportive of First-Gens maintaining their familial ties, and someplace free of anyone trying to split them up.

He ran over to the adjacent shower, then soaped up and rinsed in less than two minutes. Slamming off the shower and grabbing a towel, he started up the stairs and ran straight into Draco who was rushing down.

"And so here we meet again, on the stairs." Harry leered.

Draco snorted. "Idiot. Listen, I've been going over this in bed since I woke up, I think we need to talk about Jen and Ethan."

Harry's playful look melted into something serious, and he nodded, following Draco back up the stairs.

"Harry, what do you think brought Whitestone back _now _, to find Ethan?" Draco asked as Harry pulled his shirt over his head, still wearing his towel on bottom. He thought about it a moment then his eyes met Draco's as they said at the same time, "Accidental magic."

Harry sat down on the bed next to Draco. "Ethan must have done something in public that required the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, or Obliviators, or something. Probably someone involved nine years ago got wind of a child and it made its way to Whitestone."

"He saw the kid as something of value, maybe thought he could even get money from his parents for him. He has magical blood, so take him to his family and just leave him." Draco sneered. "Now he's fulfilled his job as heir and can bugger off and continue doing whatever he likes."

"So, he casts a notice-me-not, goes in to take him-"

"And she tazed him. Hard."

"Yeah. Which kills him, and neither Jen or Ethan have any idea; Ethan just gets him away from there because he upset his mom."

"Where he's found by a couple of horny teenagers," Draco murmured.

"Yeah, and now we have the Aurors involved, tracking his last known movements into Jen's neighborhood."

"And then enter Whitestone's family, stage left. Quite the kerfuffle. But the Aurors and Whitestone Senior are all looking for some missing item that Junior was after. They have no idea that it's a person."

Harry laid back, thinking it through. "The Whitestones don't sound too terrible. Could they have a relationship with Ethan? The death was accidental, so they can play that off as an accident, and just move on, right?"

"Harry, if his family finds out about the kid, they're going to interfere in some way that won't be acceptable. She might not get in trouble legally if we help and get ahead of the legal end of this all, but the Whitestones have enough clout here that the kid is as good as gone. They'll either make her forget him entirely, or they'll make her wish she did. They aren't necessarily bad people in the overall scheme of things, they _were _friendly with my family for many years. They believe in money and status and magical supremacy, and there's absolutely no respect there for Muggles or their wishes. As far as they'll be concerned, the mother is irrelevant. They'll either take the boy and raise him in the family, or they'll get rid of them both."

Draco sneered again, and Harry realized he'd done that twice now in the conversation, and it'd been months since he'd last seen that expression. The disdain his husband felt for this family was clear. "They can't have a little inconvenience like this interrupting next year's political campaigns, you know." He sighed. "Honestly, I don't know them well enough to predict which they'll choose, but that's what they'll see as their choices."

Harry felt the rage building in him that this kind of thing still happened. He got up and started pacing. It wasn't his country, and he was doing what he could where he could, but the fact that people felt they could take what they wanted from others because they were magical or they were wealthy infuriated him at the injustice. "We won't let them hurt them."

"No, we won't."

Harry shot a surprised look at his husband. "Just like that? I don't have to convince you to get further involved?"

Draco looked hurt and furious and got in his face, giving him a push. "Convince me? To save that sweet child and keep him with the mother who he clearly adores? Are you fucking kidding me, Harry? What kind of monster do you think I am?"

Harry deflated and sat back onto the bed. "Gods, I'm sorry, Draco. I'm not thinking clearly. Of course, I don't need to convince you." He looked at his husband standing in front of him, anger still written in his face. "You realize that we wouldn't even be involved if you hadn't persuaded me to have an adventure in the first place? When we help these two, it's going to be your doing. You will have saved this boy's future." He reached out and took Draco's hand, pulling him back over. "I love you."

Anger evidently defeated, Draco sat down. "Of course, you do. Now let's figure this out before we approach her this morning. We don't want her to completely shut down on us."

"Right. Well, we never got around to giving her the rest of the information about No-Majes, either. I think we need to develop a plan together, _with _her. We're not going to just plan out the rest of her life without her input. We'd be no better than _them _, in that case."

"Agreed." Draco looked at him. "We're going to offer to take them home with us, aren't we?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, if she's amenable. That's the only thing I can think of at this point. If this Whitestone family has the influence you say they do, the kid won't be safe here. We're going to get them safe no matter _what _that takes. And we're going to have to deal with the Aurors and their case while we're at it."

"Merlin, I love when you get all 'savior' on me." Draco crawled over onto him, pulling Harry's shirt back off. "We have at least an hour until breakfast when we can start making plans. So, let's make the best of it." He started to grind with an ornery grin, then pulled off his own top. "You may be getting off on your saving people thing, but I'm planning on getting off as well."

"Draco... it seems wrong to do this when we have guests and things to take care of," Harry said, then groaned as Draco adjusted his angle and ground against Harry's length. He reached for Draco's trousers and pulled both trousers and pants down just far enough to grab his arse, running his fingers across the crack, trying to dip in though he couldn't reach at that angle.

Draco leaned forward and ran his tongue up the hollow of Harry's throat, then latched onto his ear, kicking off the rest of his trousers then continuing to grind. "I love your smell when you're fresh from the shower. I want to lick you all over." Nibble. "And I mean, _all _over." He swiped his tongue along Harry's chin, hands busy brushing lightly across his torso, making Harry twitch and moan in anticipation. "I'm going to eat you out until you're ready to scream, and then I'm going to fuck you while you howl."

That sounded amazing, and Harry was all for it. Harry grabbed his wand and cast a silencing charm on the room. "Then stop talking and do it." He spread his legs and grinned. "Or are you scared, Malfoy?"

Draco practically cackled then reared back, grabbing Harry's legs and pulling him down closer, so he could heft his knees and dive in. The feel of Draco's tongue in his arse, teasing, nipping, licking, plunging was one of his favourite things, and something he could never bring himself to say out loud, even to Draco. The intimacy of that tongue dipping in and out, soft then hard, was a thought that made Harry even harder than the amazing feeling itself. And the noises he made were positively indecent. Moans and slurps and oh, Merlin, it was enough to make him cum. He just kept going like Harry's arse was an ice cream cone, and Harry was indeed ready to scream.

When he was nearly falling apart and was about to beg for his husband to just fuck him already, Draco reached over and grabbed the lube. He must have decided he was loose enough from the previous days' activities not to need any further preparation, as instead of the expected fingers as the tongue drew away, he felt Draco's cock slide in easily and bottom out in one stroke. They both groaned loudly, then, after a moment, Harry finally opened his eyes. "Go."

That was all Draco needed, and he started moving, slowly at first, but gaining speed and strength. Draco moved Harry's ankles up over his shoulders, using gravity to hold them in place as he leaned in closer, pounding harder, the friction on Harry's trapped cock rubbing with each thrust. Draco's sweat began to drip onto Harry's face, and he couldn't care. They had reached the perfect angle and if he changed at all, Harry might hex him. He could feel Draco getting closer, his thrusts getting stronger and his body tensing. Harry moved just a bit further down onto Draco's cock and that pushed him over the edge.

As he began to cum, Draco leaned down and captured his tongue, sucking it into his mouth, allowing Harry to fill his mouth as he filled his arse. His cock pulsed, spilling hot cum between them as Draco followed, shooting his own release where Harry could feel it inside, ready to drip out when they finished. The anticipation of that made him spurt once more, even after he thought he was done.

Harry moved his numbed legs as Draco collapsed beside him. "Merlin, I could sleep for a year."

Draco and his stupid energizing orgasms just looked at him and grinned. "You can't. We have a people saving thing to do. Come on, gang!"

"Fuck."

* * *

**_Friday, September 11, 8:30am _**

Jennifer watched Harry_ (satisfied) _and Draco _(smug) _come down to breakfast and couldn't contain her laughter. It seemed just a bit of teasing was in order.

"Well, glad to know that we're not interrupting your honeymoon _too _badly."

They both looked surprised, then seemed to remember that she could read people, because Harry blushed, and Drago let the smugness show.

"Yes, well," Draco drawled, accentuating his precise accent that she thought of as posh, "it's important to demonstrate one's affection when you're newly wed."

She laughed. She had come to trust these men, but she was pleased to know she truly liked them. They were really fun to be with, when you weren't learning life changing information, that is.

"So, Ethan already had some cereal and is working on his map. Can I make you both something? Replenish your resources, perhaps?" She smirked.

"Ha-ha. Really, I just prefer some toast and tea most mornings, and Draco will probably grab that fruit salad from yesterday."

"That predictable, am I?"

Harry smiled. "Of course. Jen, did you sleep well?"

She thought back to her night, worry and anxiety battling with children's feet and arms kicking her. "As well as can be expected with everything going on, thank you. I'm just trying to figure out what to do now."

The men exchanged a look, and Harry went about preparing breakfast for them while Draco _(anxiety) _spoke. "That's what we wanted to talk to you about a bit more today. You filled us in on your situation, but we didn't get a chance to talk to you about what we learned both before and after our conversation yesterday."

Harry_ (consideration) _looked at her solemnly. "As we explain, I want you to remember that you are not alone, and we will help you solve these problems. We _will _make sure you and your son are safe and happy, yes?"

That sounded ominous, but she nodded then sat back and listened, soon realizing how much more was going on than she had understood. The little bit of hope she had awakened with that morning slowly drained away when she learned the reality of her situation as a non-magical mother of a magical child in the United States, and she felt the panic trying to rise within her. Attempting to hold it together, she remained quiet as they told her of the Auror case they had consulted on the day before, and what conclusions they had drawn.

Finally, they finished, and she just stared at them, unable to respond for several minutes. She eventually forced herself to say the words that seemed unreal to her.

"Are you saying that my taser killed a man?"

Harry spoke up _(tenacity) _. "We believe so, yes. I think the men you thought were watching you yesterday were likely the Aurors investigating. We know they were questioning people in a residential neighborhood early in the day and were planning on returning today." He paused. "Whitestone was identified in your neighborhood. Jen, you said you couldn't get a good look at the man, but can you describe anything about him at all?"

_No-no-no! _She could barely hear through the chanting through her head. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't have killed someone, could she? But if he was her rapist, the father of her sweet boy trying to take him away from her, to make her forget him, then did it matter? She would have killed him on purpose if she had to in order to save her son, right?

She realized through the rushing sound in her ears that Harry was speaking to her still. She played back what he had just asked. Describe him? "Ah, tall, I guess. A lot taller than me anyway, and I'm 5'6". Umm, not fat, but not as thin you guys. Older than me for sure, he had some gray hairs, I think. I could only see from the back after he'd fallen, but he had dark brown hair, which is why I noticed the grays."

Harry _(determination) _looked at Draco, who nodded. "Could be him," Draco said. "Fits what I remember of him."

Harry looked back to her. "Listen, if the taser did kill him, it's not your fault. He was trespassing in your home, attempting to do you harm, and you used non-lethal force to protect yourself. It's not your fault that his body could not handle the force of a weapon that should have only stunned him. Look at me, Jen." She couldn't. She couldn't look up. He came to her and knelt in front of her, taking her hand _(understanding) _. "It's _not _your fault."

She couldn't hold it in anymore. She started sobbing, now drawing Ethan's attention. _Shit. _

"Mommy? Mom, it's ok." Ethan (love, always love) climbed onto her lap and wrapped his arms around her neck. "We'll make it okay, mom. We always do, right?"

That's what she always said to him. God, she loved this child. "Yes, baby, we'll make it okay. We always do." She just held him a few more minutes, smelling his sweet scent, then wiped her tears.

"I love you mom. Are you better now?"

"Yeah, baby, I'm better now. Thank you so much. You can go play, and I'm going to figure out how to make this better with Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy."

"Ok, cool." And he gave her a kiss and ran off to continue his coloring.

She looked back at the men _(envy and compassion) _. Envy? "Okay, so. You said you could help? So, what do I do? How do I make it all normal?"

Harry had a very sympathetic look upon his face and took her hand, pulling her to her feet. "We're going to help you find a _new _normal."

Draco _(love) _smiled at his husband with a look of such care that she nearly felt like an intruder.

Harry squeezed her hand. "We have some ideas, but this is your choice and we don't want to push you in any direction."

"Right now, I don't have any direction for you to push, so please, just give me some ideas. If I don't like them, I'll say so and we can try to come up with something else."

Draco answered_ (careful) _. "Have you ever considered moving out of the country?"

She laughed. "At every other presidential election, yeah, like most Americans, but not seriously." She paused, thinking about it for a moment. "I guess I've never truly thought about it. I have a home and the diner, and I'm happy here, mostly." Then she considered what just said. "At least, I've_ been _happy. But I would never be happy without Ethan." She thought about leaving her house and her friends and her home, and then she looked at her son and imagined living with him somewhere new. "I guess it could work, as long as I could get good work and be with my boy. It might be nice to start new, I suppose. What are you thinking?"

"We're thinking of getting you out of here. Immediately." Harry _(determination) _responded. "I know it'd not be simple, but magic will indeed make things easier than they would be otherwise. And we'd be with you. Well, maybe not during the rest of our honeymoon, but as soon as we're back."

"But what about that man? Aren't you supposed to be helping the Aurors?"

"I only consulted with them a bit and gave them a spell, which unfortunately, they may be using to find your home as we speak, which is another problem. If we can give them enough to lead them to the correct conclusion but from a different direction, then they'd have no reason to look your way."

Draco looked at Harry_ (exasperation) _. "Harry, what are you thinking? This isn't some absurd scheme that'll get you hurt, is it?"

Harry looked at his husband _(intense amusement). _"No, not really. They're looking for something that they think Whitestone was after. Some _thing _is the key, as they have no idea that they are looking for a child. If they follow the path to her home, what if I plant something nearby…" She got a punch of _orneriness! _from him clear as day this time, "but I put it next to an electrical fence, or something else that could cause the kind of nerve shock that could mimic this? Hell, what if I planted a damned taser with it and he was just playing with it? They get their cause of death with no link back to Jen and Ethan, and we get them out of here. And Daddy Whitestone never even knows they exist, so there's no scandal to hide!" Harry was attempting a look that said he was proud of himself, but she was almost sure that instead he was trying not to laugh.

She watched the two men have a full two-minute silent conversation, before Draco finally spoke in a lazy drawl. "Salazar help me, that must be the most ridiculous, idiotic, Gryffindor-ish plan I have ever heard. How the hell have you not gotten yourself killed these last twenty years, Potter? Oh, I know. _Granger _, that's how."

Harry barked a laugh at that. "Fine, maybe that's a _bit _out there, but we have to think of something." _(Kindness again) _"Look, let's take a break and each of us think about it. I want to call Hermione when she gets home and see what she can do about setting you up a place to go if that's what you choose to do, and getting you the required paperwork started for a move. If nothing else, you can stay at our home in London until we get you set up on your own, wherever that may be. Ethan can even stay in Teddy's room." He looked to Jen and smiled. "That's my godson, but he's off at Hogwarts now until Christmas."

"Harry, I…" She didn't know how to continue. "I'm completely overwhelmed. Both by the situation, and by your generosity. But really, how is moving to Britain going to help things? Wouldn't it just be more of the same between magicals and normal people? And couldn't they track me down there?"

Harry _(solemnity) _stopped her, seeing the need to explain more. "We had a bit of a revolution in the nineties in Britain. We've spent the last ten years cleaning up this kind of treatment of Muggles and Muggleborn wizards and witches. I'm not going to lie and say that Whitestone couldn't track you down there and try to take Ethan or disrupt your life in some way, but we can do our best to make sure you're not easy to find.

"The biggest benefit, though, is that in Britain, the people you'd have on your side, both in this room and in London, are the ones in power there. Both myself and my best friend are high up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and I'm close friends with the current Minister for Magic who is basically the prime minister of Magical Britain. You won't be alone, and he won't be able to use his political connections to maneuver around the law."

It was just so much to take in, she felt as though her head was spinning. "I need to think about this, and talk with Ethan a bit, and just regain my composure. Would you mind if I just took Ethan down swimming in the pool for a while? It'll let him feel like we're on a little vacation, and also give me time to think."

"Please, make yourselves at home. I'm going to take a run around the island myself. Draco?"

"I'm going to sit and watch you run, what else?" He gave Harry a stare with just the hint of a smile. "Go on, Shaggy." Now _that _sounded dirty, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes and snicker. _Men._

* * *

**_Friday, September 11, 12:30pm EDT / 5:30pm BST (London) _**

"Are you kidding me? Of course, you have to get them out of there. We already have a program set up like this that I've been working on since I became Deputy Head, and I can write this off as being a test run. I modeled it after the Muggle witness protection programs but haven't used it yet, but it should actually be relatively simple on my end. I just need to get a sign off from Kingsley and then I'll get you the papers you need immediately. Given the circumstances, I should be able to bring it to you via portkey, then bring her and the boy back with me. Do you think she'll be ready by Sunday?"

"Hermione, breathe. She hasn't even decided to go yet, we're just trying to get things started if she does."

"Well, let her know if she decides to try this, she'll have her choice of career, and we'll get her training if necessary. She'll have a selection of three different locations initially, but if she doesn't like them, we'll help her relocate. Ethan will be able to attend school, and we'll have all his school records duplicated in the new name. I know you said he's possibly Autistic, but please let her know that shouldn't be a problem. Bill and Fleur have Dominique involved in some great programs and I'm happy to work with her to get her up to speed. If he's eight, he'll likely go to Hogwarts with Dominique, and will probably benefit from the day-student program that they have planned for her. That's a few years away, but it might help ease her mind."

"She has no experience with the magical world, Hermione, except what I've already told you."

"I'll help her with that, don't worry. Tell her that I'll meet with her and answer all of her questions as soon as we can get her moved someplace safe."

"Well, the wards here on the island are top notch. Even the Aurors couldn't enter without John's cooperation, so we're safe here for now. If you do come, I'll get him to lift the Portkey ward temporarily."

"Perfect. I'm going to get working on this and get things moving. I'll call you as soon as I know anything, but I see this moving fast."

"Thanks, Hermione. You're amazing."

"I know. And Harry? When this is done? Let me worry about it and finish your blasted honeymoon. You have a whole extra week still in New York City. Go see some shows, eat some fancy dinners, get a massage, and know that I'm amazing and have it all under control, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Jinkies, Shaggy, I think you've solved the mystery!"

"Oh, fuck you. I knew that was going to get out. Bye."

* * *

**_Friday, September 11, 12:45pm _**

David Jackson was having a productive day. The spell Harry had shown him was actually paying fruit. He returned to the neighborhood that morning to meet with the last two residents he had missed the previous day. Neither was home; he found one at work with no knowledge of the victim, and the other was out completely. Even her kid was out of school, so perhaps she had gone away for the weekend.

This actually worked out well, because her house seemed to be the one with the magical residue. A quick check through their records tagged this house as belonging to a First-Gen child, but as he was only eight, he shouldn't be able to generate this much residue with just a bit of accidental magic. There were at least four different colors of residue, and if Harry was right, that was just within the last month or so. No way that was all from a kid with no wand.

Since the resident wasn't home and was a No-Maj, he was easily able to get a warrant and enter the house to investigate further. He found signs of a dog but no dog, which backed up his theory of her having gone out of town for a few days. More interestingly, though, he found more residue. An adult wizard had definitely been here recently. He looked over to Senko.

"Hey Senko. Do you remember when Harry was in the office yesterday, what he said about a First-Gen? Where did he say he had met them?"

"He didn't say that I can remember. I highly doubt that he'd be in their house."

"Still, we should eliminate that possibility before we go further on this lead. Do you have the number for the island in your notes? I believe they have a phone over there. Call the caretaker and see if you can get forwarded up to the house. A quick question can confirm or eliminate this, and we can move on."

"Sure. I'll just use the house phone here. Give me a moment."

Senko stepped into the other room and he continued to look around. "No other sign of problems. No forced entry, no signs of a scuffle, just magical residue. Very strange."

He looked up as Senko came back. "He said he hasn't been to any houses other than his lodge, just out and around town. He did ask why I was asking. I didn't see any reason not to tell him we were investigating some residue we found using his spell. He wished us luck and hung up. Nice guy."

"Yeah. Okay, let's check the backyard, then get out of here. I want to get the curse breakers out here and see if there's anything we're missing. If Whitestone had something hidden here, it might be hidden by wards or something else we can't see.

* * *

**_Friday, September 11, 2:15pm _**

"Mr. Whitestone, sir. It's good to talk to you. We have a lead, and I promised to update you with any progress. We've followed the witness sightings of your son into the residential neighborhood we mentioned yesterday, and with the help of a new investigative spell Mr. Potter showed us, we were able to track magical residue to the home of a First-Gen child. The residue was not something that could possibly be generated from a child with no wand, so we've deduced that it is highly likely that this was your son's destination. We have Curse Breakers out now searching the property for any hidden items and will keep you posted if we find anything."

"Yes, please do so, Auror Jackson. Out of curiosity, do you have a description of the First-Gen or his mother? Perhaps I'll recognize them."

David Jackson shuffled a bit in the floo, baffled at the odd question. "Ah, yes, I suppose sir. There were pictures of the boy and his mother in their residence. Mother has very light brown hair, short and kind of pointy all over. She's sort of a willowy build and fair skinned, with tattoos covering both arms. The boy has the same coloring and looks like a typical eight-year-old boy." He shrugged. "Names are Jennifer and Ethan Simmons. I'm assuming he'll be off to Ilvermorny in a year or two. Does that sound familiar?"

"Unfortunately, the woman does sound familiar, but more that she matches my son's type than because I know her." He got quiet. "If you find her, please ensure that if my son bothered her, it does not become an issue, Auror. Thank you."

Before David could reply, the floo went out and he was sitting in front of a cold fireplace. What the hell was that about? _Does not become an issue? _What the fuck was the old man playing at?


	9. The Escape

**Chapter 9: The Escape**

**_Friday, September 11, 4:30pm _**

"Mr. Potter! Did you hear? Mom said we're going to move to England to live near you! I've never been to England. Mom said we can see Big Ben and the Tower of London and Kensington Gardens where Peter Pan was. Have you been to those places?"

Harry laughed and looked to Jen, but answered, "I have definitely been to the first two, but not Kensington Gardens. Perhaps we can go together when we're all there."

"Yes!" Ethan yelled, then started running back and forth through the room.

"He'll do that for about fifteen minutes," Jen noted from her end of the sofa. "I've always assumed it was a kind of stimming he does. Let me know if it starts bothering you, and I'll distract him."

"No, it won't bother me at all. Draco might notice, as he's always yelled at Teddy for running in the house, but he's outside right now anyway. I'll just mention it to him later, so he'll ignore it if he sees it." He smiled. "I'm glad you've decided to go, then. I talked to Hermione a little while ago. She's my friend I mentioned that's high in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She's actually deputy head now, and just recently finished modeling a program after the Muggle Witness Protection Program. Have you heard of that?"

"Of course. It's pretty common on T.V."

"Great. She wanted to do a test run on it anyway, so she's in the process of getting the papers signed by Kingsley, the Minister of Magic I mentioned, to get you out of here as part of her new program. She wanted to know if you'd be ready to go by Sunday."

"Sunday. It's Friday evening, and you want me to leave on Sunday? For another country? Permanently?" She got a slightly hysterical sound to her voice. "What about all of our stuff? My home? Ethan's school? The diner? Ethan doesn't even have a passport!"

"We'll help you take care of it. Magic can do a lot, and I personally have money as well to help smooth the way. Do what you need to, quietly, with the diner. No one can know you're about to leave, but if you have someone you trust, ask them to run it for you while you take a break, which will give you a bit more time to figure out the specifics. Or we can have an anonymous investment company purchase it from you and resell when possible. Same with the house. We can plant a false trail that has you moving back to Buffalo, or whatever you and Hermione come up with. She's a genius with this kind of thing, so try to trust her and she'll make it work."

Harry moved closer to her and took her hand. "Jen, the sole purpose here is to keep you and Ethan safe. Once you're safe and settled, Draco and I are going to approach the local Aurors again with the information we've gathered." He grinned at her. "I was teasing Draco with my stupid plan this afternon. I'm not going to lie to the Aurors, and since there wasn't an actual crime committed on your end, I have no qualms getting you to a safe location before I make known what we've found. This should allow them to close the case legally, though I'm not sure that'll do for the Whitestone family. If the son found out about Ethan, others might as well, thus the move."

She leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "How am I going to do everything I need to before then, though? I don't feel safe going back home."

"Good, I'm glad we don't have to have that argument then. Hermione will help with that, and we will as well. I was going to tell you that I got a call from the Aurors today. They found your house and had a warrant to search it. They found magical residue leading them to believe a wizard had been there, and wanted to eliminate me, since I had mentioned meeting a First-Gen child this week. They know Ethan isn't capable at his age of casting the spells they suspected killed Whitestone, so they aren't looking at you, just the location. However, if they passed that information on to Whitestone's father, which I assume they did…"

She turned her head to look at him. "Then they know about us."

"We have to assume they do, yes. So yes, please stay here under the wards. You can have access to the computer, internet, and phone to make whatever discreet arrangements you like, and Hermione will take you home on Sunday to gather whatever else you need, once you've both talked and made some more decisions."

"Thank you, both of you. I don't know where I'd be right now if I hadn't met you." She glanced up as Draco came in, strangely sweaty and dirty and looking completely unlike himself. "As for now, I think I at least need to make some arrangements with my employees, and I'll have my neighbor keep an eye on the house. I just have to come up with a story to tell them. Somehow I don't think they'll believe that I've been whisked off to London by two gorgeous gay wizards intent on protecting me and my son."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, probably better come up with an excuse of a sick cousin or something."

* * *

**_Saturday, September 12, 1:30am EDT/6:30am BST (London) _**

"Hello?"

"Harry?"

"Not normally, no. I shave regularly, unlike that scruffy husband of mine who's trying to fall asleep at the moment."

"Nice. Listen, Draco. I've got all the signatures in order and documents are ready. We could get them out of there today, if necessary, and they could stay at a safe house until we have a location picked. Or, I could come out in the morning and work with her on all the arrangements and get a head start."

"Hermione, you're amazing. I'm sure she'd appreciate the help trying to figure out the next steps. I don't know that they'll need to move today, but it's nice knowing the option is there if necessary."

"Great. Give me a few hours, and I've gotten special permission to portkey directly to your location. I'll set it up and be there before breakfast. I'm setting it to arrive outside, so as long as you're indoors, we should be clear."

"Perfect. I'll warn the others. Thanks, love."

Draco hung up and looked at Harry. "If you don't relax and go to sleep soon, I'm going to hex you."

"I'm just worried. What if they track them here and try to take them, and I'm asleep?"

"Harry, John has alarms, both magical and mundane, all over this island. There are wards set to prevent entry, just as we told Jen and Ethan. We are safe. Go to sleep. I told you I'd stay up and keep watch until four, then you can get up and take a turn. Everyone is fine, now go to sleep."

Five minutes later, Draco lost his patience and hit Harry with a sleeping charm. Merlin, that man could drive a person to distraction.

* * *

**_Saturday, September 12, 2:34am _**

Something tripped the extra wards Draco had secretly placed that day. They were part of his extra security measures he'd added that afternoon, but hadn't told Harry about because he knew he'd tease him. And if they were slightly inspired by a cartoon, well, he had fun and that's all that mattered, right? The ward tripped again and he could feel the vibration warning.

Draco picked up the phone to call down to John, but there was no dial tone, which seemed odd, but who was he to know what was typical with a phone? He was sure it was nothing, probably a fucking goose or a racoon or something, but he'd check it out. He glanced at Harry and decided he probably should wake him, but he really didn't want to. He was exhausted and needed it.

He walked over the bed and nudged him awake. He drowsily raised his head. "Huh? Draco? What's wrong?"

"I set a few wards around the Apparition point this afternoon and something triggered one of them. It's probably nothing, but I'm going out to check on it."

"Hold on, I'll go with you." Harry started to pull himself up.

"No, you stay here with Jen and Ethan. I'll send you a Patronus if I see anything concerning."

"Let me go. You stay here."

"No, you just woke up and you're still groggy. Besides, it's probably nothing, but if it's not, you're needed here."

"Did you call John?"

"Phone's not making that beeping sound, so I don't think it works, and I didn't have time to run down to the floo. Go ahead and floo him yourself while I run out to check. I need to go now, though. Love you." He gave him a quick peck and ran down the stairs.

Locking the lodge behind him, he disillusioned himself and threw some silencing charms on his feet. He creeped down towards the tripped ward and went still.

In the distance, he could see movement of brush. There was no one in view, but if they were wizards, he knew they'd be hidden as he was. Shit. If he could get over the hill, he could fire off a Patronus to Harry for a heads up. He suddenly felt really stupid, like Fred suggesting they split up and sending Shaggy and Scooby off on their own. He felt like Shaggy now. He should have brought the dog, then at least he'd have some kind of backup. He was terrified, and he had to get them… then he remembered. He had to get them to his trap! Yes! He fucking knew that would come in handy.

Draco decided to just go for it and send the Patronus, then run, provoking them to give chase. He thought it through for a split second, then murmured, _"Expecto Patronum" _. His peacock (which Harry never let him live down) flew off toward the lodge, then he dropped to the ground and raised a shield charm, expecting spells to be fired. Three unidentified spells came his way, but hit several feet away from him. Perfect.

He began running down the hill, still disillusioned but making lots of noise. He could hear the intruders gaining ground, but he only had a little bit further. And… there! Over that little mound. He dove over and off to the left, then hid in the bushes to watch his genius pay fruit.

He heard feet running toward his hiding spot, then swearing and shouts, and then silence. It worked! It fucking worked! He was so going to rub this in Harry's smug face. Laughing at him for suggesting setting a trap.

He walked over slowly, shield charm at the ready, and threw a couple stunners out into the darkness surrounding him, just for good measure. Nothing. His aerated sleeping draughts seemed to have worked as quickly as he'd hoped, triggered by the movement in the hole as the intruders fell in. Who'd have thought such a ridiculous trick from a bloody cartoon would work? He began to laugh and heard the edge of hysteria in his own voice.

Then a hand fell on his shoulder, and he screamed.

* * *

**_Saturday, September 11, 4:35am _**

"I did _not _scream like a little girl, Potter."

Harry grinned, secretly pleased at his husband's performance, though he'd be sure to save his display of pleasure until they were somewhere more private. He kept his back to Draco and returned to his serious demeanor, finishing his conversation with John. The caretaker was taking the island's ward breach very seriously, and was intent on calling in the Aurors, which Harry was attempting to delay. The noise of someone waking finally caught their attention, and they all turned to the intruders turned prisoners.

There were three wizards of varying sizes and ages, though all generally non-descript. If Harry were to ever need to hire henchmen, he figured this is likely what they would look like. The idea of he and Draco having henchmen made him want to laugh, as did the idea that they had caught said henchmen in a trap inspired by a cartoon, so he pushed the feeling aside and waited. As the first fully awoke and realized his confinement, he looked around and assessed the situation, then glazed over. Harry assumed he was using Occlumency or some other means of protecting his mind, but that didn't bother him. He wasn't a Legilimens, and honestly, he had other means of getting information.

He looked at the man, then shrugged and hit the man with a Confundo charm, followed with a Babbling charm. He'd found this relatively benign combination to work beautifully on getting information from unwilling witnesses. He wasn't planning on prosecuting these men, he just needed the information, so this worked.

The man's head fell back a moment, then he looked around unsure of his situation and eager to talk. Harry nodded to John, then began, trying to keep his questions direct, yet vague enough not to clear the confusion.

"Why are you on Wizened Isle?"

"The Sarge sent us to clean up a mess. Gotta take care of it."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Do what?"

Shit. "How do you clean up a mess?"

"Make sure there's no one around to talk about it, usually. Messes are messy. They need to be clean."

"Whose mess do you need to clean up this time?"

"That bastard Will's mess. Goes around fucking women if they want him to or not, then his old man leaves it to us to clean up. Cleaned this one up once before, didn't we?"

The man looked up. "Can't tell _him _about that, we might not get paid. Usually it doesn't come back around again nine years later. Fucking Lewis and his fucking bleeding heart messed that one the fuck up and let the girl go." He chuckled. "But he's not around anymore anyway."

Harry was sickened. Would the depravity of people never cease to surprise him? "So, you were ordered to clean it up this time?"

"What time? Where am I?"

Right. "_ Confundo. _Who places the orders to clean up?"

"I told you. Sarge."

"Who tells Sarge?"

"Bastard's daddy. Not supposed to get his hands dirty and doesn't want to know how it's cleaned, but that's rich guys for you. Don't even wipe their own asses, do they?"

"Right." Harry looked at Draco and John. "John, you get all that on video?"

"Sure did, Harry."

Harry nodded, then gave a quick _"Somnus Profundus," _and the man was back to sleep. Harry turned to the others. "We're going to continue to let Jen and Ethan sleep. Draco, go ahead and call Hermione and tell her to come as soon as she can. If anyone else comes through, we'll get them out of here and worry about the rest after. If not, then we can get her caught up and I wouldn't mind having her legal input on a plan from here."

Draco looked up. "I haven't slept yet. I think I'm going to try to sleep for a couple hours after I talk to her if you don't mind. Are you going to contact the Aurors?"

"Yes, but I'm getting Ethan and Jen out of here first. I don't want to let anyone else on the Island until they're gone." He looked to John. "You okay with that?"

John shrugged. "I'd rather you call them in now, but I guess there's no point in waking them at this hour." He yawned. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just watch these arseholes and make sure they don't go anywhere. How did they get through the damned wards, anyway?"

"Curse Breaker on the team, I suppose. They should have triggered my Apparition alarms, though. I have them all over the Apparition point, as well as along the shore. I'm guessing they maybe Apparated out into the water a few feet, past the wards, then started working on them from there. I'll have to document it later so we can close any holes."

Harry nodded, then grinned toward where Draco sat on the phone with Hermione. "Thank Merlin Draco decided to play Mystery Solver and added some of his own movement triggered wards around the island. I can't believe he dug a fucking hole and made a trap. I'm never going to hear the end of this."

John laughed. "It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of, but you have to admit it's kind of awesome."

* * *

**_Saturday, September 12, 10:30am _**

Draco watched from the balcony as three prepared to leave, Jennifer's nerves as visible as Ethan's excitement. Harry and Hermione had spent the morning helping Jennifer gather a few essentials from the house so that she could leave, while Jennifer made calls to make sure the diner was in good hands and the house watched, and temporarily withdrawing Ethan from school. So far, everyone just knew she was going to help a sick cousin in Buffalo for a couple weeks, but they'd arrange later to make the move more permanent when the situation had settled.

Hermione was explaining to her what she should expect with the portkey, and what they'd do when they arrived, trying to calm Jennifer's nerves. "Ok, so, from this point on, I'm going to refer to you as Gen, short for Imogen. That's not entirely uncommon in England, and should be an easy switch for you, yes?"

"Yeah, my friends often call me Jen. That's not a problem."

"Ethan, you'll still be Ethan, but you're getting a new last name. Is that ok?"

"I guess. Can it be Potter? I really like Mr. Potter."

Draco and Hermione laughed, and Harry just looked embarrassed and pleased. "Sorry, no," Hermione said. "That's not going to work. Potter might be common in Muggle England, but it's pretty recognizable in magical Britain and Mr. Potter here is kind of famous. We're going to go with something very common, but actually still kind of related to Mr. Potter. How does Evans sound? Gen and Ethan Evans."

Harry smiled at the boy. "Evans was my mother's name when she was young, so it'll be like you're my cousin."

A huge smile burst upon his face and he whooped. "Awesome! Mom, we're Mr. Potter's cousin!"

"And now Mr. Malfoy's too. Remember they just got married?" his mother reminded him.

"Yeah, two cousins! I've never had cousins before. I like cousins!"

"When we get there, Ethan, I'll introduce you to some more kids your age that can be like your cousins, too. You're going to have more family than you could have imagined," Hermione assured him.

Jennifer looked at Draco and Harry, then came over and gave them both hugs. "Thank you. We were just strangers in a diner, and you're changing our lives. I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help." She turned to Draco with a very serious look on her face. "Harry told me that this was all your idea, so all I can say is, 'They'd have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!' The laughter rang out all around. "Seriously, though. Thank you, and it sounds as though we'll see you when you're back. Now go enjoy your honeymoon!"

"Yes, ma'am," they agreed in unison.

"Nice," Hermione murmured. "Come on. Let's get you to your new home and settled. Ethan, hold on to the bowl. I have the dog. Everyone ready? Here we go. _Domum." _

And they were gone.

"I still can't believe after all these Scooby Doo references, she had an actual great dane."

"Kismet." Draco looked at Harry innocently. "Now what?"

"Well, we still have a lodge full of bad guys in an enchanted sleep, and Aurors trying to solve a case, and an unprincipled monied asshole to deal with." He smiled. "You really know how to throw a guy a honeymoon."

* * *

**_Saturday, September 12, 1:45pm _**

David Jackson looked at the interrogation rooms on the wall (enchanted window portraits worked wonders for such things) and just shook his head. Three rooms, three random thugs, and a huge mess had dumped on his plate. He should be thrilled, because along with the mess came answers, but the messy haired man sitting in front of his desk insisted on complicating things.

"So, you're telling me that you just _randomly _bumped into this First-Gen kid and his mom, and _they _were the reason that Whitestone was in the area. That he was the kid's biological father, and that he was going to take the kid. That the _kid _was the something he was going to stash with his parents."

"Yes."

"Wait, wait. Don't talk yet. And you're telling me that Whitestone wasn't murdered, but hit with a simple muggle taser which merely mimics the effects of a Cruciatus but did kill him because of his weakened heart, which we would have been able to see if we had been able to do an autopsy."

"Right."

David just ploughed forward. "And you're also telling me that Stephen Whitestone found out about this somehow, I'm assuming by my telling him their names and description, and sent these, what did you call them?"

Potter smirked. "Henchmen?"

"Right, henchmen, because that's not evil sounding at all. But that Whitestone sent these _henchmen _to clean up the job, which when you questioned them in some sort of state of confoundment, they told you meant they were going to get rid of them."

"Well, I can't say they _told me, _per se, but that was insinuated, yes. And actually, it was someone named Sarge who sent them, but that they were overall working for, what was the term? Oh, 'Bastard's Daddy,' or something of that sort."

"And in the heat of all this, you decided to save this little First-Gen and his mom, and you packed them up to the U.K. under diplomatic immunity where I can't question them." He was really pissed off on that score. Not that he didn't want a kid and lady safe, but that really fucked things up in general.

"I didn't say that. You can question them if you want, but the evidence will show that they are innocent and in Britain, they'll be out of reach of any political maneuvering. Additionally, if they are there, they are out of sight, which we both know is what _someone _wants. That was the point of the henchmen, right? To get them out of the picture. So, now they are out of the picture."

Harry leaned forward. "Look, I wasn't born yesterday, I know how this political shit goes. There's no way you're going to get anything pinned to Stephen Whitestone, and even if you did, it would be temporary and probably sink your career. In the next room you have three criminals who you can get pinned with crimes. Get a warrant and douse them with Veritaserum and get them booked. They can't talk about anyone above this Sarge, which obviously isn't a real name, and everything else is supposition. Whitestone is too smart to let it be anything else.

"In the meantime, I have the fired taser for you there on your desk, and documentation from our government sources that show the effects of a taser on a body and a comparison to Cruciatus. No one but Whitestone and his wife know that there's a reason he was here. Let's offer him up the story that he accidentally walked into the wrong house and someone used a taser on him, causing an adverse reaction with some unknown heart condition. No murder, no rape, no mysterious kid and woman. Whitestone is going to grab onto that with zeal. And if he doesn't, you show him the video of the questioning. He'll back off, I expect."

David just looked at him. "This sucks."

"Most definitely. But the important thing is that we have helped the innocents, the original crime has been punished, and the family knows what happened and has closure." Then he thought he heard Potter mutter under breath, "as if they fucking deserve it."

Senko had been sitting quietly the entire time, listening and jotting down notes. He looked to her. "What do you think?"

"Sounds like we closed the case, Jackson. Good job."

He shook his head and sighed, then took the taser write-up with a signature from one Hermione Granger-Weasley on the bottom and added it to the pile. "Guess so. Now if you'll excuse me, Potter, I have some warrants to get for some random henchmen. Please tell me you're going to enjoy the rest of your honeymoon someplace outside my jurisdiction?"

Potter laughed. "Headed to the city on Tuesday."


	10. The Epilogue

**A/N at the end.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Epilogue**

**_Friday, September 25, 10:15pm BST _**

"So then, Harry suggests that we plant some kind of valuable object next to an electrical fence or something to throw off the Aurors, as though they might think that maybe the bastard electrocuted himself or something, then Apparated away as he died." Draco was had tears in his eyes he was laughing so hard, the rest of the table laughing along with him. _Including Harry. _

"I can't believe you actually thought I was serious! You should have heard him. _"That's the most asinine Gryffindor shit I ever heard," _he mocked in a fake posh accent which didn't sound anything like him, Draco observed.

"That's not what I said, and besides, you were serious!"

"I really was not. When would you ever think that I'd plant evidence to mess up other Aurors? Idiot." Harry was still laughing, trying to catch his breath, then got mock serious and tried to appear affronted. "It's like you don't know me all!"

The whole table roared again in laughter, Neville flagging down the server. "Can we get another round, please? On me."

"Got it, love," the server flirted, winking at Neville across the table, making him grin in return.

Blaise, sitting down the table from Neville, gave him an appreciative nod. "Nice, Neville. She's yours for the taking tonight, if you're game."

"Blaise, you're such an ass." Ginny, sitting between the two, hit him upside the head.

"Hey, you didn't hear him say no, did you?"

Ginny scowled at him, then looked at Harry. "You should have invited Gen tonight, Harry. I'd love to meet her. After putting up with all your shenanigans, she should have the chance to meet some proper Brits before making up her mind."

Everyone laughed again, and Harry smiled. "She and Ethan are getting settled into their house this weekend. She was okay staying at Grimmauld while we were gone, but now that we're back, she insisted on getting out of our way. It's good, though, as he'll start school on Monday in Ottery St Catchpole."

"I really like her," Hermione piped in. "And the kid is adorable. He'll make a nice addition to the Weasley brood of chaos, I think. And your mom is taking her under her wing a bit since they're so close. You know she likes to feel useful, and it'll be good for Gen, too."

Everyone nodded and a lull settled in the conversation as their next round of drinks arrived.

Ginny broke the silence, as usual. "So tell me about New York City? Isn't it amazing? I can never decide if I prefer New York or Sydney, but they're both in my top favorite foreign cities."

Draco put his hand on Harry's and grinned at Ginny. "It was amazing, and I got this one to sit for an entire day of spa treatments." Draco waggled his eyebrows and several impressed and amused sounds came from the ladies present.

Ron, however, scoffed. "Spa treatments, now, Harry? What's next? Highlights? Man bags?" He waited a moment trying to build suspense. "Ferret treats?"

And Harry,_ that traitor _, laughed harder than the rest.

"Weasley, you're only jealous that he had an adventure without you. _And _one where no one was hurt or seriously maimed. I believe that my record now stands for itself. I'm on a one hundred percent success rate of Harry Potter Adventures with no injuries."

"Oh, _please _." Weasley retorted, if you could call that a retort.

"He's got you, Ronald. Now behave," Hermione rightfully scolded that thing she called a husband. "So what else did you do in New York City?"

Harry groaned. "So. Much. Shopping. I swear we have holiday shopping complete for the next three years, and we were only there a week. Who knew he could do so much shopping in such a short amount of time."

"It's a talent, what can I say?" Draco preened.

"Of course it is, darling," Pansy reached over and petted his arm. She was such a good friend, always there to have his back against the Gryffindor mess that was his husband's group of friends. "What shows did you see?"

Harry began waxing on about Broadway shows, and Draco just sat back and enjoyed listening. It had been an amazing week to top off their honeymoon. Shops, fancy restaurants, spa time, shows, and most of all, just time together seeing sights and talking about new things and having fun.

The time at the lodge had been special, but looking back, Draco could understand how Harry always played down his different adventures through the years. He'd always assumed that it was some sort of misplaced modesty when Harry talked about an adventure like everything just happened and that it wasn't exciting in the moment. But now he realized he was right. It wasn't glamorous, it was stressful and exhausting and you just did what you could and hoped it went well. Luckily for Harry, though, he had Draco with him to make sure it went well.

Draco tuned back into the conversation when he heard Teddy's name. Neville was speaking. "I know I've only been teaching three years, but in those three years, your godson is possibly the biggest menace I've come across." He looked at Ron, sitting across from him. "I blame you and George. Is there a bottom to this stash of Wheezes he has, or are we to suffer all year?"

Ron snorted. "Couldn't tell you, mate. George paid him in merchandise for helping this summer. Good luck with that."

Neville groaned. "Whoever said Hufflepuffs were the easy ones obviously had no idea what they were talking about."

Blaise spoke up. "Neville, I think they were talking about a different kind of _easy _, at least in my experience. That Susan Bones…"

Ginny hit him again. "You're such a manwhore. How anyone could ever go to bed with you is beyond me."

"Cara mia, one night with me and you'd never have to ask that question again."

She rolled her eyes, then grinned. "Sorry, I'm taken."

All eyes spun back to her, then chaos. "Who?!" and "What?" and "Since when?!" all reverberated around the table.

"Oh, since a little hookup I had before, during, and after someone's wedding a few weeks ago. I'm not telling who, though. We've been _seeing _each other regularly since. You'll find out eventually."

Questions began to fly.

"Whoa, wait, _during _the wedding?"

"You can't do that! Who!?"

"Guy or girl?"

"This better be the same person I dragged you out of Harry and Draco's bed with to get ready for the ceremony. Otherwise, that seems a bit dodgy."

Silence.

"Oops, did I say that out loud?" Hermione smirked, and Pansy chuckled.

Draco glared at both of them. "I believe I kindly requested that you make sure she cleaned that bed thoroughly for us while we were gone, Pansy. I trust it's not an issue?"

She laughed and nodded, but Harry was irate and clearly not listening. "You knew about this and didn't tell me? _Ugh! _Disgusting!"

"Oh, come on, it's not like I've not slept in your bed before, Harry. Get off it!"

"WHOA! Too far, Ginny!" Ron now was pretending to gag, and she was dodging bits of crisps being thrown at her across the table.

"Okay, okay, change of subject," Draco intervened, before he felt the need to throw something sharp at her instead of just a crisp. "I have brought Harry back something from New York that he does not yet know about, and have decided to present it to him as a honeymoon souvenir here, in front of all of you, our closest friends.

The table gave a quick cheer, then quieted, turning their expectant faces toward Draco and Harry. Harry leaned over and whispered in his ear. "This isn't anything inappropriate for a public venue, is it? Because I swear I will hex you if it is."

Draco couldn't resist answering in a loud voice, "No, Harry, it is _not _anything inappropriate, and is especially not anything sexy, though I can see why you might think that'd be a possible souvenir."

Harry rolled his eyes while the table again heckled the couple. Reaching into his satchel, Draco pulled out a miniature frame, then used his wand to restore it to its original size. All eyes fell onto the gift.

In a large frame, professionally matted and ready to be properly hung in their home, was a street artist's sketch of Harry and Draco. Harry just stared at it, while Hermione, Ron, and surprisingly Blaise, all burst out laughing. Ginny, Neville, and Pansy generally seemed confused while Draco sat holding the frame, beaming at their friends.

"Okay, obviously I'm missing something," Pansy finally commented. "Why the hell is Draco wearing that awful shirt and an orange necktie? Though that's a surprisingly good sketch of Harry. Whose dog is that?"

"Oh, come on!" Harry yelled. "I told you that I am not Shaggy!

Hermione laughed and answered, as Draco could hardly catch his breath. "You are definitely Shaggy, Harry. Draco, that's amazing. I can't believe you pulled that off."

"All thanks to you, Velma."

"Jinkies, thanks!"

Ron looked interested. "Hmmm, now there's a costume we haven't tried."

Several napkins were thrown at him in disgust while Draco reshrank the frame and put it away. Harry turned to him and smirked. "I suppose I can be Shaggy. Thanks, love."

"Of course. Now finish that drink so we can get out of here. We promised Ethan to show him how to fly tomorrow, remember? We should call it a night."

Harry smiled. "Yeah, probably. I'm done anyway. Come on husband, let's get out of here."

Draco smiled. _Husband _. How well that sounded.

* * *

**Final A/N:** And here we are at the end. I can't believe I made it to the very end! Thanks so much for sticking with me and our boys. This was my first attempt at writing anything longer than a two-shot, so please, if you liked it even a little, leave me some comments.

And perhaps those comments will get me further inspired to work more on my "Wedding Perspectives" story, which is likely what's coming up next. It's Harry and Draco's wedding, but the entire day is told from the POV of their friends and family. Stay tuned!

Also, check out my profile for other stories in this series of Harry and Draco's relationship in this universe: _That's Life Together. _Thanks for reading!


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